Moffitt study finds vaccine may improve breast cancer treatment outcomes
Dendritic cell vaccine shows potential to enhance chemotherapy effectiveness in HER2-postitive, ER-negative subtype
2025-03-18
(Press-News.org) TAMPA, Fla. (Mar. 18, 2025) — Moffitt Cancer Center researchers have discovered a promising new vaccine strategy for treating a specific type of breast cancer. The innovative approach targets human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive, estrogen receptor-negative (HER2-positive, ER-negative) breast cancer and has shown encouraging results in a recent pilot study. Published in npj Breast Cancer, the study combined the HER2-targeting dendritic cell vaccines with standard chemotherapy, demonstrating both safety and positive response rates.
The study enrolled 30 patients with stage 2 and stage 3 HER2-positive, ER-negative breast cancer who were undergoing chemotherapy before surgery to shrink the tumor. Researchers gave the HER2-directed dendritic cell vaccine before chemotherapy to determine its effects on immune response and treatment outcomes. The results showed that patients receiving the vaccine had significant immune activity, with complete tumor disappearance observed in a notable percentage of cases.
“Our findings suggest that the dendritic cell vaccine can boost the body’s immune response against tumors, potentially improving the effectiveness of chemotherapy,” said Hatem Soliman, M.D., medical oncologist in the Breast Oncology Department at Moffitt and lead author of the study. “This approach may offer a new way to enhance breast cancer treatment and patient outcomes.”
The study also found that injecting the vaccine directly into the tumor led to greater immune cell activity within the tumor environment. This could help refine future immunotherapy strategies for breast cancer and other types of cancer.
“These findings highlight the potential of immunotherapy to transform how we treat HER2-positive breast cancer,” said Brian Czerniecki, M.D., Ph.D., co-author and chair of the Breast Oncology Department at Moffitt. “By stimulating the immune system, we may be able to create more effective, long-lasting responses for patients.”
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (P30-CA076292) and the United States Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (W81XWH-16-1-0385).
About Moffitt Cancer Center
Moffitt is dedicated to one lifesaving mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt’s scientific excellence, multidisciplinary research, and robust training and education. Moffitt’s expert nursing staff is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with Magnet® status, its highest distinction. For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488), visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the momentum on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
###
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2025-03-18
Toronto - Despite a very uncertain economic climate, investors can at least feel confident that audited financial reports are more reliable thanks to the spread of international standards.
New research led by a researcher at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management shows that the quality of financial audits increasing in countries which have adopted the International Standards on Auditing, or ISA, issued through the International Federation of Accountants, the accounting profession’s worldwide body.
“We show improvement in audit quality, on average,” said researcher Ole-Kristian Hope, the Deloitte Professor of Accounting at the Rotman School. However, ...
2025-03-18
Internal displacement in Syria was used by the Assad regime to reshape the country’s political and social landscape, a new study shows.
The forceful movement of people was systematically employed alongside indiscriminate violence, the research says.
This was not just a consequence of war, but a strategy to depopulate key areas and repopulate them to create new political and social realities. This tactic extended the impact of displacement beyond the immediate conflict, embedding it as a long-term political tool with lasting post-war ...
2025-03-18
Over the past two decades, Haiti has endured the devastation of two catastrophic earthquakes — first in 2010 and again in 2021. Each disaster left behind widespread destruction: buildings reduced to rubble, entire communities displaced and an overwhelming loss of life. A major factor in the severity of these tragedies was the widespread structural failure of poorly designed buildings, many of which were not constructed to withstand the powerful tremors.
Marc-Ansy Laguerre, a postdoctoral associate in civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, ...
2025-03-18
Why do people living in democratic countries vote for political candidates who openly violate democratic standards? A new study by a University of Notre Dame researcher found that diverse understandings of democracy among voters can lead to votes for authoritarian-leaning political leaders.
“A considerable variety in democratic views leads part of the electorate to overlook violations of democratic norms such as minority rights protection or restraints on executive power,” said Marc Jacob, assistant ...
2025-03-18
CLEVELAND—Brain implants hold immense promise for restoring function in patients with paralysis, epilepsy and other neurological disorders.
But a team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University has discovered that bacteria can invade the brain after a medical device is implanted, contributing to inflammation and reducing the device’s long-term effectiveness.
The groundbreaking research, recently published in Nature Communications, could improve the long-term success of brain implants now that a target has been identified to address.
“Understanding the role of bacteria in implant ...
2025-03-18
CAMBRIDGE, MA – Prototyping large structures with integrated electronics, like a chair that can monitor someone’s sitting posture, is typically a laborious and wasteful process.
One might need to fabricate multiple versions of the chair structure via 3D printing and laser cutting, generating a great deal of waste, before assembling the frame, grafting sensors and other fragile electronics onto it, and then wiring it up to create a working device.
If the prototype fails, the maker will likely have no choice but to discard it and go back to the drawing board.
MIT researchers have come up with a better way to iteratively design large and sturdy ...
2025-03-18
It’s time for researchers to reconsider the current paradigm of cancer as a genetic disease, argued Sui Huang from the Institute for Systems Biology, USA, and colleagues in a new essay published March 18th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.
The prevailing theory on the origin of cancer is that an otherwise normal cell accumulates genetic mutations that allow it to grow and reproduce unchecked. This paradigm has driven large-scale cancer genome sequencing projects, such as The Cancer Genome Atlas, to identify cancer-driving mutations ...
2025-03-18
Food and non-alcoholic drink products in Mexico were substantially reformulated to be healthier following the 2020 introduction of warning labels identifying products with excessive content of calories, fat, salt, sugar, sweetener and caffeine
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Medicine: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004533
Article title: Product reformulation in non-alcoholic beverages and foods after the implementation ...
2025-03-18
A major review of over 67,000 animal species has found that while the natural world continues to face a biodiversity crisis, targeted conservation efforts are helping bring many species back from the brink of extinction.
The study draws on data from the IUCN Red List, the world’s largest database of species conservation status. The researchers say their results, reported in the journal PLOS Biology, highlight both the successes and the need for urgent action.
The world is facing a global biodiversity crisis, with 28% of more than 160,000 assessed species threatened with extinction, and an estimated one million species facing this fate due to human activities. ...
2025-03-18
Targeted conservation actions are essential to prevent wildlife extinctions, but more efforts are needed to fully recover biodiversity, according to a study published March 18th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Ashley Simkins of the University of Cambridge, UK and colleagues.
Out of over 166,000 species assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, around 28% are threatened with extinction. Global efforts to prevent extinction and recover biodiversity have had some success, but there is limited data to show which conservation actions are most effective. In this study, Simkins and colleagues compile information ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Moffitt study finds vaccine may improve breast cancer treatment outcomes
Dendritic cell vaccine shows potential to enhance chemotherapy effectiveness in HER2-postitive, ER-negative subtype
