Another roll call-who has had vaccine therapy?

[michele u]

this would be great to find out how many of us have had vaccine trials and where and what stage you were at when you received your vaccines.

I'm starting my first vaccine June5 at Seattle. I'm stage 3 so i will get 3 vaccinations.

Also include the year you received the vaccine and if there has been any recurrence

Dear Michele:

My wife, Lisa, is a participant in the U of Washingtion vaccine study beginning in July, 2004. She completed her 6th vaccine injection in January 2005. In addition, at the urging of Dr. Disis she also participated in a study in which they harvested her t-cells for later use in the event she had a recurrance.
At the point my wife entered the study she was NED for a period of a year, having had a completer response to her herceptin treatments. Lisa was first diagnosed in 1991 with a 2cm breast tumor and 4 positive nodes. After 6 CAF treatments, 36 radiation treatiments, surgery and tamoxifin for 5 years, she remained cancer free until May, 2002. At that point she had a 7cm lung tumor and three 1cm tumors in her liver and was a Stage IV patient. Ultimately, all of these tumors disappeared as a result of herceptin.
In January, 2005 immediately after receiving her 6th vaccine treatment Drs. discovered two small tumors in the scar tissue from the old tumor in her lung. In late January the top portion of Lisa's left lung was removed. Pathology showed that these tumors had been invaded by two different types of t-cells which were active. Tissue samples were sent to U of Washington where we are awaiting results of more sophisticated staining to determine whether or not the vaccine had caused her immune system to attack these tumors.
On April 1st Lisa suffered a stroke while we were on a trip to Italy. The stroke was not caused by any brain tumor, but the MRI's she took as a result showed a 3cm brain tumor. This was treated a few days later by Gamma Knifer surgery.
Lisa never had a brain MRI over the last three years since her recurrence and so no one knows how long this had been there. It is possible that this tumor also was under attack by her immune system, but since no biopsy was never taken we will never know.
The good news after all of this is that Lisa is currently NED with no visible tumors in her lower body and no visible tumors in her head.
We maintain great hopes for the vaccine as our last blood test shows that Lisa is sustaining a strong immune response to Her2.
Sorry, this was so long, but the story was long. Hope it was helpful
Good Luck and God Bless!
Brian

[Lolly]

I'm currently participating in the UW Seattle CTL vaccine with concurrent Herceptin.

I've been Stage IV since January 2001, and after 6 months of Herceptin/Navelbine I maintained NED with Herceptin until May of 2004 when recurrence to supraclivacular nodes and right axilla was confirmed by PET. After another 6 months of Herceptin/Navelbine combo, I was considered stable (supraclivacular node still somewhat enlarged, but apparently dormant) and eligible for the trial.

I received the first of 6 monthly vaccines in January 2005, and blood work in March revealed a good antibody response. I will have the last vaccine next month, June, and follow-up blood work at the 7th, 9th and 12th months. I also will have a MUGA at the 9th month to monitor the effect, if any, on my heart.

At the time of the MUGA, I'll request follow-up scans of the nodes (barring any symptoms in the meantime), as it will be a year since the last scans. It will be very interesting to see what shows up, hopefully nothing!

I decided to post my trial info here even though I haven't finished yet because like Michelle suggests, it would be neat to see the enrollment stats for the vaccine trials in one place.

Here's hoping for a most vigorous response for all of us!!!

I was diagnosed stage 2 April 2002 (1.8cm, 1/27 nodes), grade 3, her2+ve, er/pr-ve. Had lumpectomy, 4xAC, 4xTaxol, 37 rads.

Began vaccine trial at UW - but the trial was for a GlaxoSmithKline vaccine - in Jan. 2004. Had 5 vaccines (supposed to be 6 but one "melted" in transit), through April 2004, finished up all scans, bloodwork etc in Oct. 2004. So far, so good.

Because mine wasn't a UW trial, I (nor UW), has any idea of the resuklts of my bloodwork, etc. Maybe one day the results of this trial will be announced.

Marianne

I completed the Walter Reed Vaccine Trial (at Walter Reed, not Windber because my husband is retired military) last winter. It involved 6 vaccines, once each month for six months. I was diagnosed 9/03, 4 nodes+, her2+++, er+/pr+, double mastectomy with reconstruction, 6 months chemo CAF, 7 weeks of radiation. Chemo put me in menopause but I popped back out so I had my ovaries removed this March so I can take Arimidex. So far so good. Walter Reed will not tell you your individual response to the vaccine, but they recently published an abstract that is encouraging.

Best of luck to us all.

Lolly, what do you mean "dormant" by this?

<<After another 6 months of Herceptin/Navelbine combo, I was considered stable (supraclivacular node still somewhat enlarged, but apparently dormant) and eligible for the trial.>>

Good luck to you on the trial! :-)

[Lolly]

Hi Jojo, sorry to take so long to answer, I didn't see your question :)
I guess what I was trying to say by using the word "dormant" is that if the enlarged node is still cancerous, it's not in an active state, even though not shrinking it's not enlarging either. I think it's just another way of saying "stable".

<3
Lolly

Brian
could you tell me who I should contact for this vaccine? Maybe I could be eligigble for this vaccine too...
Thank you. Beatrice

[Lolly]

Beatrice, contact Patty Fintak, Study Research Nurse/University of Washington Tumor Vaccine Group: (206) 543-6620. She's very helpful and will be able to tell you if you might qualify for one of the vaccine trials at UW/Seattle.

<3,
Lolly