Providence tests vaccine against recurrence of breast cancer

It’s been a long-time goal in the fight against cancer: Using the body’s own immune system to fight the disease.

Everett’s Providence Regional Cancer Partnership is one of 13 sites nationally that is testing whether a vaccine, in combination with another medication, is effective in preventing a recurrence in certain types of breast cancer.

They hope to recruit about 50 women to participate in the study. The patients they seek must have low-to-moderate amounts of the HER2 protein present in their cancer.

Currently women with high amounts of HER2 protein are given a drug called Herceptin to try to prevent recurrence. That’s about 25 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer, said Dr. Jason Lukas, an oncologist at the cancer partnership.

The medical study being conducted in Everett and other sites nationally is to see if this drug, in combination with a vaccine, is effective in preventing a recurrence of breast cancer in women who have low-to-moderate presence of the protein in their tumors.

The vaccine is made in part from the HER2 protein and a drug that stimulates the production of white blood cells.

If the study results show that the combination treatment is effective in preventing breast cancer recurrence, it would be a major step in battling the disease, Lukas said.

The recurrence rate in women who have low-to-moderate amounts of HER2 protein depends on the size of the tumor when they are diagnosed, from a low of 10 percent to as high as 60 percent, he said.

The tests that will be conducted in Everett are the phase 2 trials, or second step tests of the medications. Initial tests involving small groups of women have shown some positive results, dropping the recurrence rate 15 to 20 percent, Lukas said.

“There’s been vaccines tried for other types of solid tumors, but they haven’t yet shown as much potential,” Lukas said. “This is the one where the data seem to be the most compelling.”

The study will document whether women are disease-free 24 months after receiving the treatments.

Some women participating in the study will receive Herception alone. Others will get Herceptin plus the vaccine. Patients will be treated with Herception every three weeks for one year, beginning no later than 12 weeks after completing standard chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

The vaccine treatments will begin with shots every three weeks for a total of six. After that, booster shots are given 12, 18, 24 and 30 months later.

Everett is the only cancer center in Washington participating in the study. Other sites include the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and the Katzen Cancer Research Center at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Lukas said he and another doctor first began exploring the idea of a vaccine to prevent some types of breast cancer recurrence while he was in the Navy. An Army physician they knew also was working to develop the same idea.

Once all three left the military, they worked to launch a national study of the technique, Lukas said.

Vaccines work with the immune system to fight disease. People get cancer because the body’s immune system, for whatever reason, fails to attack it.

The hope is that the vaccine will help Herceptin to work even more effectively, said Marilyn Birchman, clinical research manager at Providence Regional Cancer Partnership.

“It would be nice to have a therapy that’s targeting the breast cancer, with so many less dire effects,” she said. “It’s targeting that cancer cell essentially, and much less toxic than chemotherapy.”

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.