Friday, June 4th, 2010

Breast Cancer Update

Scanning electron micrograph of a single breast cancer cell. Image courtesy National Cancer Institute.

Researchers made news this week with findings that could point the way to a vaccine for breast cancer. The experimental vaccine, which targets the alpha-lactalbumin protein found on many breast cancer cells, appeared to protect genetically-engineered lab mice from developing breast cancer. However, the study was very limited in nature -- only on a small number of mice -- with any human experiments still far in the future. We'll talk about the work, and how it fits into the larger picture of breast cancer research. How much do we understand about how cancers are formed and grow?