Walter Reed Vaccine Study

[Cynthia]

I recently finished my six rounds of vaccine injections at Walter Reed Army Hospital (the military partner of Windber). I was eligible to go there because my husband is retired military. The experience was terrific. I had the chance to meet with the various research nurses and Dr. George Peoples, the director of the study, and to chat with him from time to time (via email) about different issues relating to the vaccine. It is truly comforting to know that we have such intelligent and dedicated folks out there working on our behalf. (I was diagnosed 9/03, Her 2 +++, 4 pos. nodes, I did chemo CAF (no Herceptin), radiation and am NED. I also was HLA A2 so I met all of the criteria to get in (I understand that the criteria may have been changed recently though I have no first hand knowledge of that). I never had any adverse side effects from the vaccine to speak of (just itchy legs at the injection sites which they say is a good thing because it means there is an immune response occurring). Apparently the blood samples you give each time you go in for your shots shows the researchers a great deal about the immune response you may be having to the vaccine. However, because this is a trial, they will not tell you about your own blood results. You have to wait until a paper is published to learn about the results of the study's participants in the aggregate. With fingers and toes tightly crossed, I am pleased to report I am doing great. I understand that a paper will be published on the results to date of the Walter Reed/Windber study in about 3 months or so. I will let you know when I learn more about the publication of the paper. In the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions about the Walter Reed study or my experience with it. Also, I would be curious if any others out there participated at Walter Reed. Thank you and best wishes to everyone.

[*_Meg_*]

Sorry to seem ignorant, but what is HLA A2?

it seems that your condition is very like mine - could you get the vaccine without having metastasis / being stage III/IV?

Thanks,
Meg

[Cynthia]

I wish I could speak to your question of what is HLA-A2 but I can't other than to say that I believe it refers to a type of molecule at the surface of cells. The relevance to us use to be (and possibly still is) that you had to have HLA-A2 in order to be enrolled in the study as the vaccine was targeted to work in HLA-A2 positive people. You can be tested for it through blood work. (I have heard rumors that you don't need to be HLA-A2 anymore to be enrolled, but I just don't know if that is true.)

It is my understanding that the Walter Reed/Windber study requires you to be NED. There is no need to have had any Mets to be enrolled. (I have not had Mets to date.) I believe the goal is to test the vaccine in B/C patients who have gone through traditional treatments (surgery, chemo and rads) who are at high risk for a recurrence (there is both a node positive and node negative study) to see if the vaccine helps to prevent recurrence. Currently the study is Phase I. They do not have enough data yet to say if the vaccine is doing what it is hoped to do. Please bear in mind that I am giving you my perspective and that I can't speak for the study authors in any way. Please let me know if you want contact information for the study's coordinator.

[*_Julie_*]

Hi Cynthia,

I am interested in finding out the details about the vaccine, could you please give me the contact info about windber trial.

thanks

[Guest]

Per its website, here is the contact information for the Windber trial. I believe that Maureen Pavlik continues to run this trial.

Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center
of Windber Medical Center
Windber Medical Center
600 Somerset Avenue,
Windber PA 15963
Tel: (814) 467-0044
Toll Free: (866) 253-4703
Fax: (814) 467-0725
http://www.windbercare.com/breastcare.html

• Maureen Pavlik, RN, BS, CCM: Vaccine Case Manager (E-mail: mpavlik@conemaugh.org)


Windber is the civilian arm of the Walter Reed trial. If you are eligible for military benefits and would prefer to travel to DC, you may want to check out the Walter Reed trial:

Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Comprehensive Breast Center, Ward 55
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001

http://www.cbcp.info

Stacy O'Neill is the nurse coordinator at Walter Reed (E-mail: stacy.oneill@na.amedd.army.mil)

I hope this helps.

Cynthia

[Lolly]

Cynthia, congratulations on finishing the course of injections! It is really exciting to hear from those who've been through the course, and hope you keep us posted on how you do. The world is watching!!!

Love, Lolly

[Cynthia]

Thank you Lolly. I will keep the group posted on anything I hear about the Walter Reed/Windber study. Best of luck to you Lolly as you proceed with your vaccines.

Cynthia

[Ronnie (Diana)]

I just finished the Walter Reed trial conducted at the Wynberg Center in Pennsylvania. I just finished skin test and will return in 6 mos. for a blood draw. I amazed the cl inic that I traveled from California for this trial. I was interviewed 3 times to promote the trial. I also got the opportunity to meet Dr. People's and he is a wonderful physician.

I did not suffer any ill effects and I felt extremely fortunate to participate in the trial. If you want to contact me, feel free to.

gentilehi5@hotmail.com

[*_Julie_*]

Do they have a trial for stage3, if there is what is the eligibility criteria?
Hope they don't ask for permanant menopause (UW trial requires permanant menopause and so I am ineligible).

thanks.

[Ronnie]

I was Stage IIIB for the Walter Reed Cancer Vaccine Trial. I had the HLA-2 allele and I was NED. The only other concern was that I was not pregnant. I just shook my head over that one. I hope this helps.