A breakthrough in the development of a breast cancer vaccine brings hope that the vaccine will some day be used to prevent cancer in adult women.
US researchers said single doses of the drug on mice showed 'overwhelmingly favourable results' preventing cancers from forming and also stopping existing tumours from growing.
Immunologist Dr Vincent Tuohy said: 'If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental, we could eliminate breast cancer.'
Human tests of the vaccine could begin as early as next year.
The drug makes the immune system attack a particular protein found in most breast cancer cells and the mammary tissues of breastfeeding women.
If the human tests prove successful, the strategy would be to vaccinate women over 40 years of age when breast cancer risk begins to increase and pregnancy becomes less likely.
'The frequency of women who breastfeed in their early 40s and above is very low, so we are looking at vaccinating women against the disease from this stage of life onwards,' Dr Tuohy said.
For younger women with a heightened risk of breast cancer, the vaccine may be an option to consider instead of prophylactic mastectomy - breast removal surgery to protect against breast cancer.
