University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences experts are a few steps away from beginning a new trial on a new vaccine they hope will help prevent the recurrence of breast cancer.

 

The vaccine is designed to trick the body into producing antibodies that fight breast cancer cells – something the body does not normally do. The vaccine was developed over a decade of study on the immune system, Thomas Kieber-Emmons, director of basic breast cancer research at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, said.

 

The trial will be done in phases. The first phase will last four to six months and will involve women with cancer that is actively spreading and women whose cancer has come back after going into remission. Each woman will be given five doses of the vaccine. The number of patients participating in the study hasn’t been disclosed yet.

 

According to the American Cancer Society’s statistics, breast cancer accounts for nearly one in three cancers diagnosed in American women. The incidence of breast cancer increases dramatically after age fifty, with fifty percent of breast cancers diagnosed in women over the age of forty-five. Obese women, especially those who are post-menopausal, women who consume excessive amounts of alcohol (greater than two ounces per day) and those who smoke are at increased risk.

 

The American Cancer Society (ACS) says breast cancer is the second cause of cancer-related death, lagging only behind lung cancer. It is indeed a type of cancer that has increased survival probability; however around 40,000 women died from the disease last year, according to the ACS.