Prototype testing of breast cancer vaccines

A chicken pox vaccine consists of a routine shot in the arm. Unfortunately, cancer vaccines are not so routine, but Wei-Zen Wei, PhD, associate professor of immunology/microbiology, has developed prototypes that show great promise in preventing cancer recurrence and progression.

The target of Dr. Wei’s cancer vaccine is the ERBB-2 molecule, which is highly expressed in breast cancer. She is developing a DNA vaccine that mobilizes the body’s immune system to recognize the presence of ERBB-2 and respond by attacking cancer cells and cancerous tumors. “We learn how the immune system recognizes cancer and then we try to manipulate it,” said Dr. Wei. “We look for this particular molecule and pull out our arsenal against it.”

The National Cancer Institute has awarded Dr. Wei a five-year grant for nearly $850,000 to develop ERBB-2 based breast cancer vaccines. Now with a different approach, she uses foreign peptides to stimulate immunologic attacks “We stick a peptide to the tumor, the body recognizes the peptide as a foreign object, and the immune system responds by attacking the peptide and its locus—the tumor,” said Dr. Wei.

Although Dr. Wei is excited about the potential of peptide vaccines to stop the growth of secondary tumors, she acknowledges that it can only be used in patients with advanced cancer. She is even more excited about DNA vaccines, which are purely preventive.

Dr. Wei has been able to show over 90 percent cancer protection in mice with the DNA vaccine. “The translation to humans is a long road, but these results certainly give us cause to push on in our research,” she said.