It’s hard to believe the media didn’t scream this news from the rooftops: If things go according to plan for Dr. Vincent Tuohy and the Cleveland Clinic in the next decade, women over 40 and those at high risk will receive the first vaccine against breast cancer. A first-of-its-kind vaccine to prevent this horrendous disease has shown “overwhelmingly favorable results in mice,” said a release from the CC.
Dr. Vincent Touhy
“We believe that this vaccine will someday be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines have prevented many childhood diseases,” said Dr. Tuohy, an immunologist in the CC’s Lerner Research Institute. “If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer.”
Unlike most other attempts at cancer vaccines, which target viruses or cancers that have already developed, Dr. Tuohy’s vaccine targets a lactation protein (alpha-lactalbumin) that is expressed in most tumors but not in normal breast tissue. In his study, genetically cancer-prone mice were vaccinated—half with a vaccine containing the protein and half without it. None of the mice that received the protein developed breast cancer, while all of the other mice did. Breast cancer is not associated with any virus.
Dr. Tuohy recently met with members of Congress and others to secure funding for a clinical trial at the CC. It takes just under 10 years to go from the pre-clinical trial phase to phase 3 clinical trials. Trials cost about $16 million.
If I were a very rich woman, I’d hand over a check to Dr. Tuohy tomorrow. The thought that our daughters—and many of us—could be vaccinated against breast cancer is overpowering.
Thank you, Dr. Tuohy. And much success.
0 Responses to “Three cheers for Dr. Tuohy!!!”
We got the point. It’s time for a cure! | Fab Over Fifty Blog says:
[…] When I blogged about Dr. Tuohy a few weeks ago, FOF Mel commented: “I guess I’m getting cynical, and definitely have had my opinions colored by watching a younger sister die from ovarian cancer, but I have to ask why isn’t there tons of cash sitting around for people like Dr. Tuohy? There are pink ribbons everywhere! There are runs/walks/jewelry sales/foundations/yogurt lids/NFL sponsored pink team shirts/pink/websites, etc., etc., etc!! Where is all the money?? […]
I have to agreed, where the hell is all the money going???? Being a third generation of
“maybe having breast cancer” I am scared out of my mind that someday my doctor is
going to tell me I have breast cancer. I cannot tell you how much money I have donated,
nor bought “Pink” for the cause, I never ever here any good news through the years doing this deed. Why can’t these “cause collectors” print a major add showing the operating costs, salaries of the higher up’s , etc. to show all us suckers what if anything has been done.
OMG Jerry Lewis telethron has been running how many decades and yet is there a cure
there? I think money should go directly to those 100% involved and dedicated to this
or any frightening disease. ~You have my blessings and hopefully you will earn the Nobel Prize. ~(And I will never see the color pink again !)
OMG you are absolutely right! I am not only going to post his address, as you suggested, but I’m also going to call the Cleveland Clinic and get the answer to your question. FOF has a wonderful relationship with them, so I will find out and get back to you and everyone else. I feel like an idiot not to have thought about this.
I guess I’m getting cynical, and definitely have had my opinions colored by watching a younger sister die from ovarian cancer, but I have to ask why aren’t there tons of cash sitting around for people like Dr. Touhy?? There are pink ribbons everywhere! There are runs/walks/jewelry sales/foundations/yogurt lids/NFL sponsored pink team shirts/pink/websites, etc., etc., etc!! Where is all the money?? As my sister suffered for almost six years with her disease, she lamented that you couldn’t open a magazine, watch TV, shop, have lunch at work, open email, or anything without being smacked in the face with a request for funding breast cancer research –one result is that people with ALL kinds of cancer can not forget for even one moment about their disease and that’s almost criminal. Let them have some peace! Although my sister felt all the “pink ribbons” were a daily burden, she said it would be worthwhile if the money really went to research and cures. Where is the money?? Has the public been played? Are women buying a certain brand of yogurt because they think the 10 cents the company sends to cancer research is a good deed? You spend over 40 cents to mail the darned lid!! Post Touhy’s address and let people send him money instead of going to charity balls, running around towns with pink shirts, pink sneakers, buying yogurt, and tormenting cancer patients with an endless barrage of “Cancer” at every turn.
0 Responses to “Three cheers for Dr. Tuohy!!!”
We got the point. It’s time for a cure! | Fab Over Fifty Blog says:
[…] When I blogged about Dr. Tuohy a few weeks ago, FOF Mel commented: “I guess I’m getting cynical, and definitely have had my opinions colored by watching a younger sister die from ovarian cancer, but I have to ask why isn’t there tons of cash sitting around for people like Dr. Tuohy? There are pink ribbons everywhere! There are runs/walks/jewelry sales/foundations/yogurt lids/NFL sponsored pink team shirts/pink/websites, etc., etc., etc!! Where is all the money?? […]
Robyn says:
I have to agreed, where the hell is all the money going???? Being a third generation of
“maybe having breast cancer” I am scared out of my mind that someday my doctor is
going to tell me I have breast cancer. I cannot tell you how much money I have donated,
nor bought “Pink” for the cause, I never ever here any good news through the years doing this deed. Why can’t these “cause collectors” print a major add showing the operating costs, salaries of the higher up’s , etc. to show all us suckers what if anything has been done.
OMG Jerry Lewis telethron has been running how many decades and yet is there a cure
there? I think money should go directly to those 100% involved and dedicated to this
or any frightening disease. ~You have my blessings and hopefully you will earn the Nobel Prize. ~(And I will never see the color pink again !)
Geri says:
Hi Mel,
OMG you are absolutely right! I am not only going to post his address, as you suggested, but I’m also going to call the Cleveland Clinic and get the answer to your question. FOF has a wonderful relationship with them, so I will find out and get back to you and everyone else. I feel like an idiot not to have thought about this.
Geri
Mel says:
I guess I’m getting cynical, and definitely have had my opinions colored by watching a younger sister die from ovarian cancer, but I have to ask why aren’t there tons of cash sitting around for people like Dr. Touhy?? There are pink ribbons everywhere! There are runs/walks/jewelry sales/foundations/yogurt lids/NFL sponsored pink team shirts/pink/websites, etc., etc., etc!! Where is all the money?? As my sister suffered for almost six years with her disease, she lamented that you couldn’t open a magazine, watch TV, shop, have lunch at work, open email, or anything without being smacked in the face with a request for funding breast cancer research –one result is that people with ALL kinds of cancer can not forget for even one moment about their disease and that’s almost criminal. Let them have some peace! Although my sister felt all the “pink ribbons” were a daily burden, she said it would be worthwhile if the money really went to research and cures. Where is the money?? Has the public been played? Are women buying a certain brand of yogurt because they think the 10 cents the company sends to cancer research is a good deed? You spend over 40 cents to mail the darned lid!! Post Touhy’s address and let people send him money instead of going to charity balls, running around towns with pink shirts, pink sneakers, buying yogurt, and tormenting cancer patients with an endless barrage of “Cancer” at every turn.