In preliminary tests, that vigorous immune response often lasted eight years or longer in breast cancer patients.
"We were surprised because in general it had been thought that patients with cancer, [that] their immune systems couldn't be stimulated this way," Disis said.
This vaccine is just one of a least 40 now being tested. Many focus on different targets and different types of breast cancers.
Researchers should know the results within the next five to 10 years. If the vaccine can keep breast cancer from returning, the next step would be to see if the vaccines, administered much earlier, could protect women from ever developing breast cancer.
"The likelihood, long-term, of a vaccine therapy being useful is quite high," said Dr. Jack Erban, director of the breast-cancer program at Massachusetts General Hospital. "I am not certain which vaccine, or what type of vaccine, and I think that pioneers like Ingrid make it closer to a day when there will be a vaccine."
But for women determined to remain cancer free, these experiments hold promise for a future without cancer.
"If you value life and your loved ones, and your role as a mother, you're going to do whatever you can to stay there," Ingrid said, reading to her daughter. "I'm not ready to leave yet."
To learn more about breast cancer vaccines and a list of where they're being tested, click here: www.tumorvaccinegroup.org.
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