Breast cancer vaccine

Several trials were performed on breast cancer patients treated with cyclophosphamide. Little local toxicity was found, and an antibody response was evidenced. Partial clinical responses and disease stabilizations were obtained. [200-202]. Adluri et al. [203] compared vaccines using Detox or QS-21 in an adjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer patients. Toxicity was mostly local. An antibody response was... 

In another study involving patients with metastatic breast, colorectal and ovarian cancer, increased anti-sTn titers were correlated with better survival. Even if before treatment, elevated titers of antibodies against the mucin MUC1, were correlated with a poor response to immunotherapy, CTL precursors to the MUC1 were detected in carcinoma patients [208], A vaccine using 10 pg/ml MUC1-KLH mixed with Detox was injected s.c. in breast cancer patients treated with cyclophosphamide. A weak antibody response, and an ex vivo CTL response against HLA-matched adenocarcinoma cell lines were seen. No correlation with the clinical outcome was available [209],... 

A component of Theratope vaccine in phase III clinical trials for use against metastatic breast cancer. Biomira Inc., Edmonton, Canada. 

The overexpression of HER-2 protein in cancer cells makes it an ideal target for vaccines and other targeting strategies. Vaccines optimized to induce maximum T cell immunity to HER-2 may lead to potent in vivo antitumor immunity. HER-2 protein has been evaluated as a potential target for the development of cancer vaccines because preexistent T cell and antibody responses to HER-2 have been described in breast cancer patients (Disis and Cheever, 1996). In other words, breast cancer patients have preexisting immunity to the HER-2 receptor in the form of elevated antibody titers and T cell immunity. Elevated anti-HER-2 T cell responses have been demonstrated in breast and ovarian cancer patients following immunization with peptides derived from the HER-2 protein (Disis et al., 1999). However, whether peptide-specific T cell responses can be translated to antitumor immunity has yet to be established. 

Jiang, X. P., Yang, D. C., Elliot, R. L., and Head, J. F. 1999. Reduction in serum IL-6 after vaccination of breast cancer patients with tumor-associated antigens is related to estrogen receptor status. Cytokine 72 458 165. 

Kiessling LL, Pohl S. Strength in numbers non-natural polyvalent carbohydrate derivatives. Chem. Biol. 1996 3 71-77. Ragupathi G, Koide F, Livingston PO, Cho YS, Endo A, Wan Q, et al. Preparation and evaluation of unimolecular pentavalent and hexavalent antigenic constructs targeting prostate and breast cancer a synthetic route to anticancer vaccine candidates. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006 128 2715-2725. 

Clinical Outcome of Breast and Ovarian Cancer Patients Treated after High-Dose Chemotherapy and Autologous Stem Cell Rescue with Theratope (STn-KLH) Cancer Vaccine Theratope (STn-KLH) Cancer Vaccine following Autologous Transplant... 

The associations of immune function parameters with EPS and OS in vaccinated breast cancer patients were estimated via Cox regression models. The immune response results were split in groups by the median values, with the medians determined separately for each vaccine group, and the resulting categories combined. The potential for differential effects of immune response and vaccine formulation across relapse risk groups was tested using interaction terms. 

For a listing of the results of immune testing of all vaccinated and breast cancer alone patients, see Table Ila and b. 

Among breast cancer patients alone, the IgG antibody titer to STn was statistically signiftcantly higher after vaccination with the second formulation compared to the first formulation (p=.009). The IgG antibody titer to OSM was marginally statistically significant higher after vaccination with the second formulation compared to the first formulation (p=.08) and were thus used to evaluate outcome. 

Factors associated with EFS in Vaccinated Breast Cancer Patients... 

Since breast cancer patients were the largest group of patients treated with the two different formulations of Theratope vaccine, we. focused again on evaluating the outcome after vaccination as a function of in vitro immunological responses. Fifty-three patients were available for this analysis. 

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