A clinical trial that could help shape the future of breast cancer treatment is under way, and a Long Island patient is among those taking part, News 12 reported. The study is testing a tumor vaccine aimed at certain breast cancer patients, and those involved hope it could eventually move the standard of care forward for people facing the disease.
At the center of the local story is Christina Amitrano, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 when she was just 35 years old. Her cancer was a type described as triple positive with the HER2 protein, a diagnosis she noted would have been considered a death sentence two decades ago but is now far more treatable.
Amitrano went through a demanding course of treatment that included chemotherapy, radiation and infusions. She said that throughout the process she still seemed like a healthy person, the kind of patient who would never have guessed from the outside that she was dealing with any sort of illness, let alone cancer.
She is now enrolled in what is known as the Flamingo-01 phase three clinical trial. According to the report, the study is testing a tumor vaccine given to HER2-positive breast cancer patients who meet certain criteria, part of an effort to find new ways of keeping the disease from coming back.
Doctors were careful to explain what the vaccine is and is not. It is not a shot for the general public to prevent breast cancer, but rather a treatment given to women who have already developed the disease and who are considered at risk for a metastatic recurrence, meaning the cancer spreading and returning.
The trial follows a set schedule for those who take part. Participants receive monthly injections during the first six months, and then continue with injections every six months over a three-year period, allowing researchers to track how the treatment performs over an extended stretch of time.
Stony Brook Medicine is one of about 160 hospitals around the world participating in the trial, and the report said they are looking for more people to take part. Amitrano, who said she was so inspired by her journey that she went back to school and became an MRI technician, said she is grateful to be involved and hopeful that every incremental step could help bring a cure closer.