The main aim is often to control the disease while allowing the patient to live as normal a life as possible. But Dr Miles said that even if the trial proves a success, the vaccine is unlikely to replace chemotherapy. It would be used alongside the current treatments. Immune response The vaccine is thought to work by using the body's immune system. Normally the immune system does not recognise cancerous cells as a threat, and so they are left to grow unhindered.
Normal cells have a protective coating of sugars around their core.
In breast cancer cells, much of the coating is missing. This means that sugars closer to the core are exposed. Cancer cells destroyed The vaccine targets one of these sugars, known as STn. Antibodies in the immune system can then home in on the cancer cells and destroy them. Early studies have shown promising results.