Breast Cancer Foundation NZ
A personalized vaccine for breast cancer
June 2017
Research Grant
What is the problem and who is affected?
Researchers are working on vaccine-like drugs that can stop breast cancer spreading. However, not only is breast cancer a complicated disease in itself, but every patient’s cancer is different and tends to change over time. There’s no one-size-fits-all treatment.
What is this research hoping to achieve?
Sarah Young at Otago University will use a BCFNZ grant to take her exciting work in bowel cancer vaccines into breast cancer. She and her team will take the first steps toward a targeted immunotherapy for breast cancer – a new medicine based on the principle of vaccination and flexible to incorporate some of the patient’s individual tumour proteins.