Mexican Science Achieves Breakthrough in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Mexican science achieves tumor elimination, metastasis inhibition, and immune memory activation in triple-negative breast cancer. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents one of the greatest challenges in modern oncology. In animal models of triple-negative breast cancer, these vaccines not only succeeded in eliminating primary tumors but also in inhibiting metastasis—the main cause of death in cancer patients—and generating immunological memory that prevented the cancer's reappearance even after a second implantation of tumor cells. A key breakthrough against the most aggressive subtype. «The model we used was that of triple-negative breast cancer because it is one of the most lethal and difficult to treat, both in humans and laboratory mice,» explained Allan Noé Domínguez Romero, an academic at the Faculty of Chemistry. «In these cases, large tumors form in a short time and metastases are generated, particularly in the lungs.» These sequences were mutated to increase their recognition capacity by the immune system. Encouraging results and lower cost. In preclinical studies, a single therapeutic injection was sufficient to cure triple-negative breast cancer in animals, even in advanced stages. Furthermore, the treated specimens did not develop tumors again after new exposure to cancer cells, which confirms the induction of immunological memory. Another crucial aspect is the potentially much lower cost compared to current therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or monoclonal antibody immunotherapy, whose global market exceeds 200 billion dollars annually. «Conventional immunotherapies have an average effectiveness of 20 to 30 percent and are extremely expensive,» stressed Domínguez Romero. «In contrast, our vaccine showed remarkable efficacy in experimental models.» Could it serve for other types of cancer? Although the main focus was on triple-negative breast cancer, researchers indicated that BEVs could be adapted to almost any type of cancer. «We have equally effective results in melanoma and we are working on leukemia models,» indicated Manucharyan. «We can design therapeutic vaccines for the more than 220 types of cancer that exist.» So far, there are only therapeutic vaccines approved by the FDA for melanoma, bladder, and prostate cancer. Other available vaccines, such as the human papillomavirus vaccine, are preventive, that is, they prevent the disease but do not cure it. Next step: clinical trials in humans. The results were recently published in the international journal Molecular Immunology, after more than a decade of scientific work. With this evidence, the team declares itself ready to move to the next phase: clinical trials in humans. «In patients, the procedure would be less invasive and easily adaptable to existing clinical platforms,» affirmed Manucharyan. A potential impact on women's health. In Mexico, breast cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in women. According to INEGI data, in 2022, 7,888 deaths from this disease were registered, 99.4 percent in women, with a projected rate of 9.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. The development of an effective therapeutic vaccine against triple-negative breast cancer not only represents a scientific advance but also a new real hope for thousands of women who today face one of the most difficult diagnoses in modern oncology. This note, as well as reports, exclusive interviews, videos, podcasts, and more, you will find in our next special digital edition of Temas Selectos en Oncología.