Allstate Workplace Division Sponsors Clinical Trial for Breast Cancer Vaccine

Jacksonville, Fla. -Allstate Workplace Division, a subsidiary of The Allstate Corporation, has funded a grant for $220,426 through Gateway for Cancer Research (formerly known as Cancer Treatment Research Foundation) to support a Phase I Clinical Trial of a vaccine that may fight Stage IV breast cancer.

“This cutting edge vaccine may be an enormous breakthrough in breast cancer research, offering a greater chance of survival for women with late stage breast cancer as well as a possible vaccination for people at high risk of being diagnosed with this devastating disease.” says David A. Bird, President of Allstate Workplace Division.

The trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new Mammaglobin-A DNA vaccine to be used in Stage IV breast cancer patients. Mammaglobin-A is a protein involved in normal breast development and is found almost exclusively in breast tissue. It is present at much higher levels in breast cancer and has become a reliable marker for the presence of the disease.

William E. Gillanders, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, is the primary researcher. Dr. Gillanders and his team have developed a new drug that binds with the breast cancer-related protein Mammaglobin-A to create a complex antigen, a sign to the body’s immune system that a foreign body is present. This new complex antigen is expected to activate a cancer patient’s immune system to begin killing off the breast cancer cells. In the clinical trial, women with Stage IV breast cancer will be given this new vaccine and then will be evaluated for effects on the cancer cells as well as any adverse reactions.