Breast cancer vaccine, what is it and what does it consist of

Develop a vaccine that can prevent cancer it is extremely complicated, if in itself developing a vaccine against a virus takes a long time, one that goes against our cells, it is even more complicated; however, researchers in the United States are developing an immunization to prevent breast cancer.

The complication comes from the fact that tumor antigens, that is, those that are expressed in malignant cells, are variations of autoproteins and would probably mediate profound autoimmune complications si sThey will be used in a preventive vaccine setting.

​What is the breast cancer vaccine?

Researchers conducted several mouse breast cancer models to define a prototypical strategy for cancer prevention vaccination and selected α-lactalbumin as the target vaccine autoantigen (an antigen that is expressed on cancer cells) because it is a breast-specific differentiation protein expressed in high amounts in most breast carcinomas.

In their investigations, they found that immunoreactivity against α-lactalbumin provides substantial protection and therapy against the growth of autochthonous tumors in transgenic mouse models of breast cancer and against 4T1 transplantable breast tumors in BALB / c mice.

Because α-lactalbumin is conditionally expressed only during lactation, vaccination-induced prevention occurs without detectable inflammation in normal non-lactating breast tissue.

Therefore, α-lactalbumin vaccination can provide safe and effective protection against the development of breast cancer in women in their premenopausal and postpartum years, when breastfeeding is easily avoidable and the risk of developing breast cancer is high.

Triple negative breast cancer

Triple negative breast cancer accounts for a higher percentage of deaths from breast cancer, as well as a higher rate of recurrence.

In addition, it is twice as likely to occur in African American women, and approximately 70 to 80 percent of breast tumors that occur in women with BRCA1 gene mutations are triple negative breast cancer.

“The long-term goal of this research is to determine if this vaccine can prevent breast cancer before it occurs, particularly the more aggressive forms of this disease that are prevalent in high-risk women,” Tuony added.

Activation of the immune system against this “removed” protein provides preventive immune protection against emerging breast tumors expressing α-lactalbumin.

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