Vincent K. Tuohy
A vaccine to prevent breast cancer being developed by Cleveland Clinic researchers has shown “overwhelmingly favorable results” in animals and could be on its way to conquering the disease that kills more than 40,000 American women each year.
Researchers led by Vincent Tuohy, an immunologist at the Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, have found that a single vaccination with the antigen alpha-lactalbumin prevents breast cancer tumors from forming in mice and inhibits the growth of existing tumors.
Enrollment in human trials could begin next year. If successful, the vaccine would be the first to prevent breast cancer and could point the way to vaccines for other cancers. It also could be a huge commercial success for the Clinic, which typically licenses or spins off its discoveries to companies that take them to market.
“We believe that this vaccine will someday be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines have prevented many childhood diseases,” said Tuohy, the study’s principal investigator, in a press release. “If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer.”
Tuohy’s research will be published online today at Nature.com and in the June 10 issue of the Nature Medicine journal.
In Tuohy’s study, cancer-prone mice were vaccinated — half with a vaccine containing alpha-lactalbumin and half with a vaccine that did not contain the antigen. Not one of the mice vaccinated with alpha-lactalbumin developed breast cancer, while all of the other mice did.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved cancer-preventing vaccines for cervical and liver cancers — both act on viruses that cause the cancers, not on cancer formation.
In developing his vaccine, Tuohy solved the quandary of targeting cancer — an overdevelopment of the body’s own cells — rather than a foreign substance, such as a virus. Vaccinating against a virus destroys the virus, but vaccinating against a person’s own cells destroys healthy cells.
So Tuohy and his colleagues created a vaccine that seeks alpha-lactalbumin, which is a protein found in the majority of breast cancers, but is not found in healthy women except when they breast-feed. The vaccine would destroy healthy breast tissue of women who are lactating, so these women likely would not get the vaccine.
Because the protein is linked to lactation, the strategy behind the new vaccine would be to vaccinate women who are over 40 years old — when the risk of breast cancer begins to rise and pregnancy becomes less likely. Younger women at heightened risk for breast cancer could consider the vaccine as an alternative to prophylactic mastectomy.
“Most attempts at cancer vaccines have targeted viruses or cancers that have already developed,” said Dr. Joseph Crowe, director of the Clinic’s Breast Center, in the release. “Dr. Tuohy is not a breast cancer researcher, he’s an immunologist, so his approach is completely different — attacking the tumor before it can develop. It’s a simple concept, yet one that has not been explored until now.”
A year ago, Tuohy, who studies autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, was surprised when the National Institutes of Health backed development of his breast cancer vaccine after his first request. Usually, it takes several requests to land grants in the neighborhood of $1.3 million.
Several clinical trials are underway for breast cancer vaccines. The University of Arkansas is working on a therapeutic vaccine that tricks the body into producing cancer-fighting antigens, while Generex Biotechnology has had successful early phase trials with breast cancer patients on its therapeutic vaccine.
But few if any researchers appear to be going for a prophylactic vaccine — one that prevents cancer. Tuohy envisions an adult vaccination program like those that vaccinate children against diseases like polio and measles.
“When you are an adult, you could be vaccinated against adult diseases like breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer and so forth. Maybe even Alzheimer’s,” Tuohy said.
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The report of Cleveland Clinic immunologist, Dr. Vincent Tuohy’s discovery of a vaccine that prevents breast cancer in mice is extremely exciting and encouraging. We can only hope that his findings apply to human beings, and that his enthusiasm for developing a vaccine that prevents women age 40+ from ever getting will be justifiable. If that happens he will be deserving of the Nobel Prize, for sure!
It’s absolutely great that human protocols for this vaccine will begin within a year. On a note of caution it should be pointed out that on average only one of 10 medical cures that work on mice or rats also applies to people. Let’s hope this is The One!
Speaking as a prostate cancer survivor and healthcare educator, and as the author of Conquer Prostate Cancer (conquerprostatecancer.com), I only hope that Dr. Tuohy’s wish that preventative vaccines like his will be developed for adults with breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer and so forth will come to fruition.
Comment by Rabbi Ed Weinsberg, EdD, DD — May 31, 2010 @ 7:24 pm
I am so overjoyed about this new vaccine. As a breast cancer patient at Memorial Sloan Kettering for a year now. I myself have been on clinical trials. I have stage 4 breast cancer and I was diagnosed at age 37. I am now turning 39 and this gives me so much hope and joy. I would love to paritcipate in this trial. It sounds very promising. I am so confident that in my lifetime that it would just be a matter of time before this would happen. I would like to thank Dr. Vincent Tuohy’s and his team for experementing in breast cancer research. I feel confident that this vaccine will work!!! And that Dr. Tuohy will recieve the Nobel Prize….
Comment by Lisa Garrambone — June 1, 2010 @ 7:31 pm
Iodine Prevents Breast Cancer
Iodine deficient diets in animals induces breast cancer and goiter.The Shrivastava group in India reported molecular iodine induces apoptosis (programmed cell death) in human breast cancer cell cultures. “Iodine showed cytotoxic effects in the cultured human breast cancer cells”.
From Mexico, the Carmen Aceves Velasco Group reported Iodine to be safe, with no harmful effects on thyroid function, and an anti-proliferative effect on human breast cancer cell cultures. Their 2009 paper reported the mechanism by which Iodine works as an anti-cancer agent. Iodine binds to membrane lipids called lactones forming iodo-lactones which regulate apoptosis (programmed cell death). Iodine causes apoptosis which makes cancer cells undergo programmed cell death. Dr. Aceves concluded that continuous molecular iodine treatment has a “potent antineoplastic effect” on the progression of mammary cancer.
From Japan, Dr Funahashi reported a common seaweed food containing high iodine content is more beneficial than chemotherapy on breast cancer . “He found that administration of Lugol’s iodine or iodine-rich Wakame seaweed to rats treated with the carcinogen dimethyl benzanthracene suppressed the development of mammary tumors. The same group demonstrated that seaweed induced apoptosis in human breast cancer cells with greater potency than that of fluorouracil, a chemotherapeutic agent used to treat breast cancer.”
A 2008 paper by Bernard A. Eskin MD showed that Iodine actually altered gene expression in breast cancer cells, inducing programmed cell death. A 2003 study by Ling Zhang ahowed that molecular Iodine caused lung cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death (apoptosis). These lung cancer cells had been genetically modified to increase iodine uptake.
For references and More:
http://jeffreydach.com/2009/11/13/iodine-against-breast-cancer-the-overwhelming-evidence-by-jeffrey-dach-md.aspx
jeffrey dach md
Comment by jeffrey dach md — June 2, 2010 @ 5:33 am
Just a follow up about the cervical vaccine Guardasil. This vaccine is dangerous and will killyou or cause more health problems than it “supposedly” prevents. Vaccines SHOULD NOT cause MORE HARM than GOOD.
Comment by Sondra Braun — June 2, 2010 @ 7:27 am
I’m always nervous about Guardasil. Especially my daughter had Guardasil vaccination year ago by her doctor’s recommendation. I’d like to hear more about possible harms or health problems caused by Guardasil in the long run to the significant number of young girls, not an isolated case.
Comment by Yvonne Tran — June 2, 2010 @ 12:07 pm
What happened to my posts about curing my breast cancer with baking soda. Are you afraid of the truth. When Dr, Otto Warburg won 2 Nobel prizes for this information the AMA tried to hush it up then back in 1931. Are you trying to do the same thing now. I used his method and it worked. I tablespoon of baking soda was all I needed to shrink my 2 inch tumor down to 1/2 inch and it died. My oncologist and 2 PET scans confirmed this . Why aren’t you letting women know about this? Is it because you can’t patent it and make money off of it like you can these vaccines and other treatments? You can’t suppress the TRUTH FOREVER. Baking soda is the REAL CURE for cancer, and its CHEAP!!!
Comment by Sondra Braun — June 3, 2010 @ 7:23 am
Baking soda? Whe do you use it , can this be used when in remission for prevention of reaccurance?
Comment by V O — June 9, 2010 @ 8:22 am
How do you take the baking soda?
Comment by steve — June 25, 2010 @ 4:01 pm
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