Breast cancer tumor vaccine being studied at Stony Brook Medicine

Christine Amitrano considers herself lucky that her breast cancer was discovered at the age of 35. So after two years of aggressive treatment, she enrolled in a clinical trial of an experimental vaccine doctors hope will reduce the risk of her cancer's recurrence.

"Research is the most important thing that people can volunteer for," Amitrano, now 41, said Friday during an interview at Stony Brook Medicine’s Cancer Center. While she doesn't know if she's receiving the vaccine or a placebo, she noted the cancer treatments she received were available because of others who joined clinical trials. 

Stony Brook Cancer Center is one of 160 sites worldwide participating in the FLAMINGO-01 Phase III clinical trial by Greenwich LifeSciences, a biopharmaceutical company based in Texas. It’s a tumor vaccine specific for people diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Participants are given a series of six injections over six months followed by five booster injections six months apart.

The focus is on trying to prevent cancer from returning and becoming a metastatic disease, when it spreads beyond the breast into other tissue and organs.

"In women who do develop metastatic breast cancer, there have been successes in keeping them alive as long as possible and with the best quality of life," said Dr. Jules Cohen, a medical oncologist at the Stony Brook Cancer Center who treats Amitrano. "When they develop disease in the liver, lungs or bone, or worse, in the brain, they will ultimately die of their disease ... We’re looking for ways to try to reduce the risk of metastatic recurrence in these early stage patients."

Most women don’t get their baseline mammogram until the age of 40, unless they are considered at higher risk of developing breast cancer due to a family history and other factors.

Early mammogram, little family history

Amitrano’s mother, a nurse, urged her to get a mammogram early. Her mother was adopted and had no knowledge of her biological family's medical history. The mammogram and ultrasound showed a lump in Amitrano's left breast and a mass in her right. The mass was benign but the lump was positive for stage 2 cancer.

"We were shocked," she said. "I really didn’t think anything was wrong."

Doctors told her if she had the screening earlier, the lumps may not have been visible. And if she had waited any longer, the cancer would have been more advanced.

Amitrano underwent chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. While there are no current signs of cancer, she takes long-term medication and follows up with frequent screenings.

The experience also prompted her to switch careers. She went from being a physical education teacher to an MRI X-ray tech.

"When I was going through radiation therapy, I started to get interested in it," Amitrano said. "It is so important to get diagnosed early and I like to be in a field that helps people."

Stony Brook is still enrolling people who have been diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer in the clinical study. Amitrano hopes others who were diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer will get involved.

"All the treatments that we have now were established through the participation of patients all around the country and all around the world in clinical trials," Cohen said. "Step by step, treatments have gotten better and better, so that more patients with cancer are cured."

"While some people may hesitate because they are concerned about health risks associated with clinical trials, Cohen pointed out that participants are constantly monitored.

"There's a lot of scrutiny on clinical trial participants," he said. "You come to the Cancer Center more and you have a whole clinical trials team taking care of you. We're watching everything very closely."

By Lisa L. Colangelo

lisa.colangelo@newsday.com@lisalcolangelo

Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.