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What does the future of surviving breast cancer look like? Today, it’s defined by harsh chemo and radiation, disfiguring mastectomies, and fighting a courageous battle to survive. All those breast cancer walks and research foundations promise us that they are working for a real cure. But, in the world of cancer, as we’ve seen, cures can sometimes fall into an ambiguous grey area, where they might destroy the cancer, while also bringing their own slew of destructive side effects. Instead, imagine the “cure” for breast cancer as something more radical: preventing it in the first place, by a simple vaccine.
That’s what researchers think the might be on to, in a recent study published in the prestigious science journal Nature. Scientists at the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic inoculated several groups of mice against breast cancer. They gave the mice shots with the antigen alpha-lactalbumin, a protein that is overproduced in breast cancer tumors. The mice with the vaccine developed immunity against breast cancer, and those who had developed it before the vaccine saw their tumors shrink.
But wait, you’re saying. I remember how vaccines work from junior high science. Don’t you need to have a virus in order to effectively inoculate someone against a disease? You’d be right, and breast cancer, like most cancers, isn’t caused by a virus, but a mutation where normal, healthy cells start duplicating out of control. The researchers got creative here; instead, they focused on a protein, that alpha-lactalbumin I mentioned earlier. The only time that this protein is found in a woman’s breasts is during breastfeeding and when breast cancer tumors start forming. So, you simply target this particular molecule that’s indicative of cancer formation, and boom, you’ve created a vaccine, without needing a virus. You just teach the body to recognize that molecule as an intruder and to attack it.
You can see that this approach comes with a caveat, though: the alpha-lactalbumin is evil during breast cancer formation, but it’s perfectly normal during breast feeding. So, it wouldn’t be appropriate to vaccinate a woman who was still trying to have kids, or who might become pregnant. The researchers speculated that the best time for a woman to get the potential vaccine would be around age 40—when she was pre-menopausal, but after she was done having children. A woman who received the vaccine and then became pregnant would probably experience some pain in her breasts, and would most likely have to forgo breast feeding. Although this would mean that some younger women who developed breast cancer would miss out on the benefits of the vaccine, it would still reach the greater population of women when they are most likely to begin developing the disease.
Of course, and rightly so, the researchers are cautious about the potential that this vaccine will make it to human trials. The mice stage of experimental treatment is only the beginning, and it would have to be repeated in larger animals, and then in human trials, before pharmaceutical companies will even start dreaming of it hitting the shelves of your local doctors office. But, it wouldn’t be the first vaccine for cancer—there are already ones that prevent cervical cancer and liver cancer, by targeting the viruses that cause them. Dr. Vincent Tuohy, the lead scientist of the research, took a moment to ruminate on the findings, and to imagine a future world that, as a woman, I’d be happy to live in:
“If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer.”
This post was originally hosted on An Apple A Day, a health and nutrition blog.
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Sign in nowI think us flatlanders from Florida may be more susceptible! Or at least that’s what I told myself after my first trip to Denver – only 5000 feet – and acted like an angry drunk after going right to work setting up a trade show booth after getting off the plane.
Thanks for the tips!
I agree with you completely that we need to reexamine food and our relationship with food as Americans. Food is more than “fuel.” Eating should be an experience, a way in which to feed our minds, our emotions and our bodies. You make an interesting point when you say that good food habits should be taught in schools. As a public school teacher at a low income school, I constantly reinforce the importance of healthy and mindful eating. Low-income groups are most at risk for chronic diseases as a result of poor nutrition. In my classroom, I become a snack-Nazi, running around between the desks in the fourth grade and confiscating anything crunchy that comes in a bag (besides baby carrots, of course). I make the kids check the labels for high-fructose, Yellow 5, and words they can’t pronounce. What I find, however, is that families continue to send food to school that is anything but food. To be honest, sometimes I simply pretend like I don’t see the kids cramming hot Cheetos in their mouths under their desks before I can get to them. While I can lecture and explain and reinforce, what needs to happen in our country is access to good food for poor people.
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
Excellent post – and of course WHO’s ‘emergency committee’ is claiming that the pandemic threat is “not yet over!” because that’s the message that Big Pharma is paying for.
The WHO guidelines were pepared in collaboration with a group called the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza (ESWI). But what this committee did not disclose is that ESWI is funded entirely by the drug company Roche and other influenza drug and flu vaccine manufacturers.
The H1N1 scare was very good for business last year. J.P. Morgan reported that the pharmaceutical companies did very nicely during this health scare, profiting to the tune of $7 billion from the sale of vaccines alone.
While WHO may have not disclosed the entire committee’s identities, the British Medical Journal investigation revealed that two of the identified “experts” (René Snacken and Daniel Lavanchy) were not only on Big Pharma payrolls, but had actually participated in Roche marketing events.
Why would WHO even consider touching these guys with a 10-foot pole – never mind accepting credible scientific counsel from them?
More at “Did Big Pharma Fund The Swine Flu Panic?” at: THE ETHICAL NAG: MARKETING ETHICS FOR THE EASILY SWAYED – http://www.ethicalnag.org/2010/06/21/h1n1-flu-panic/
Good information here – and yet it should come as no surprise given what we already know about the devastating psychological effects of any disaster on human beings. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been widely studied and linked with virtually every catastrophic life event on us.
PTSD is a debilitating emotional illness that can develop when you experience or even witness a dangerous, terrifying, or possibly life-threatening stressful event – an event that is outside the range of what’s considered to be a normal human experience. About 7-8% of the general population will develop PTSD, but for military veterans, rape victims and heart attack survivors, this number can go up to an astonishing 30%.
As your article reminds us, PTSD can also strike both survivors and relief workers at natural or terrorist disasters, as well as anyone who has either experienced or witnessed this kind of trauma.
New York City’s World Trade Center Health Registry reported that 20% of New Yorkers who lived below Canal Street (close to the World Trade Center) were estimated to suffer from PTSD following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, compared to 11% of all New York City residents. About 5% of trained relief workers were diagnosed with PTSD as a result of just listening to stories from survivors of the attacks.
Hardest hit among 9/11 relief workers were those who were pulled off their regular jobs to perform tasks they were not prepared for – like the city’s sanitation workers who were assigned to help with search and rescue, or relief workers who spent more than 90 days at Ground Zero. Most relief workers showed no further symptoms six months later, but Twin Tower survivors themselves reported suffering PTSD symptoms up to five years after the attacks.
A Harvard Medical School study of survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans found ‘delayed onset’ PTSD symptoms that actually increased over the first two years following. The worst-affected Katrina survivors were both close to the epicentre of the tragedy as well as abandoned on their own without help for far too long – both extremely dangerous PTSD risk factors.
“Abandoned on their own without help for far too long” sounds like an apt description of those impacted by the horrific events in the Gulf day after day, week after week while the oil continued to spew.
More on PTSD after a catastrophic life event at: “Not Just For Soldiers Anymore: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder After A Heart Attack” — http://www.myheartsisters.org/2009/08/25/ptsd/
Dengue is a Killer. My close friend’s mother pass away due to Dengue Fever.
nice article, keep the posts coming
Good show. Interesting info too about anaphylaxis.
I just signed up to your blogs rss feed. Will you post more on this subject?
Very good post. Anticipating the next one.
One can’t help but wonder if disasters like this are the cause of cancer and other illnesses. After all, we all become affected by the contaminated water & dust eventually.
Thanks for a wonderful and informative post. As a vegetarian traveler, I know how difficult it can be to find meals in some countries! I had no idea about Trinidad & Tobago – I will have to add that to my travel list.
I didn’t realize people of mixed heritage had a more difficult time finding bone marrow donors.
I can’t wait to try finding basic recipes for some of these dishes and “veganizing” them! Great post.
I’ve heard that vegetarianism is unknown in Japan. If you say you are a vegetarian there, for example, they will just give you more vegetables with your meals (along with meat).
Haha, love that the clip has Spanish subtitles.
Sometimes I’m not sure what to think when pain is involved in anything. Medical experts say to expect pain in certain situations, but for the most part, I thought pain was indicator that something is wrong in your body.
Does sitting on a bouncy ball help at all?