Newswise — Real estate consultant Christine Sable was devastated when she learned three years ago during a routine checkup that she had advanced metastatic ovarian cancer. Today she's alive and cancer free, beating the odds thanks to an ovarian cancer vaccine she credits with keeping her healthy.
The Manheim Township, Pennsylvania, wife and mother of two feared the worst when doctors told her that her cancer had spread all throughout her abdomen, "like icing on a cake." Surgery successfully removed the tumors, but the six months of chemotherapy that followed took a debilitating toll on the typically active 45-year old.
"The chemo made me so sick, it was almost as bad as the cancer." Christine suffered many of the physically punishing effects common to some chemotherapeutic treatments, including nausea, tiredness, balding, aching bones, and the mental fog known as "chemo brain."
Despite the bad side effects, the chemo seemed to have done its job, getting rid of what was left of the cancer. But when her doctors then suggested more chemotherapy to keep her cancer from coming back, Christine refused and instead sought out therapies that were less toxic than chemo. "While the chemo got me to where I needed to be, I was done pouring poisons into my body." Fearing more chemotherapy would wear her immune system down, she sought out other ways to keep her cancer under control.
Christine's hunt for an alternative to more chemotherapy didn't seem to be turning up any good results. Most of the new investigational therapies she found were just other forms of chemo. Then, in a stroke of luck Christine says has to be more than mere coincidence, her husband Steve caught a report on a local news show about a Cancer Vaccine Collaborative clinical trial at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, testing a new ovarian cancer vaccine that targets the NY-ESO-1 antigen found on ovarian and other cancer cells.
"I applied immediately for enrollment in the trial. I was the right kind of patients they were looking for, except they had to test my cancer tissue samples first to see if they were a match for the vaccine." The anticipation was excruciating during the days following her initial consultation. "I was hoping so much that they would take me into the trial."
When she got the call that she'd been accepted, Christine was relieved and elated. "I felt like I'd won a lottery ticket to life!" In February 2004, she began to fly every three weeks from Baltimore to Buffalo to receive her vaccine treatments.
After the agonies of chemo, the vaccine seemed incredibly easy: just a simple shot with the only side-effect being a little soreness around the injection site.
"It seemed too good to be true. I could do all my normal activities. There was no nausea, tiredness, or pain like there was with the chemo," Christine remarked. "The hardest part of the treatment was the travel and being away from my family, but despite all that, I felt really good."
After five injections, the trial doctor, Dr. Kunle Odunsi, told Christine that she was showing a strong immune response, and offered to give her another round of vaccinations. All in all, she received twenty injections of the NY-ESO-1 vaccine.
While receiving treatment, Christine learned a lot about cancer immunotherapy from Dr. Odunsi. "It's a mind-boggling science, very complex, but Dr. Odunsi explained everything to me, about how the vaccine was teaching my immune system to recognize and destroy the cancer. He's a brilliant, compassionate man who really loves his work." Dr. Odunsi told her about the Cancer Research Institute, the nonprofit organization based in New York City that was providing funds to support the clinical trial of the ovarian cancer vaccine.
"I learned that my trial was one of several vaccine trials within a network of coordinated trial studies called the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative. Dr. Odunsi explained that nothing like the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative had been done before, and that it was accelerating cancer vaccine research. He made me feel like I was contributing to something that is really going to change the future of cancer therapy."
More than three years later, Christine is still in remission. A CAT scan this past spring confirmed the she is cancer free, despite the odds. Ovarian cancer frequently recurs within five years and is often very difficult to treat. "I know the vaccine is part of the reason why I'm still alive today," Christine said.
Back to her old self, Christine spends her time working, volunteering, and contributing to her community, as well as helping other women with ovarian cancer cope with the disease. She has also committed to getting the word out about cancer vaccines and the promise they hold for cancer patients. "I'm trying to get on Oprah. Women really need to know that there are other options other than chemo."
Most of her free time, though, is spent with her two children and her husband. "My struggle with cancer really helped to put things into perspective for all of us," Christine said. "Life is a precious gift. Nobody knows how long they have, so now I don't hesitate to create good moments for myself and others. I've gone on a cruise with my husband, another one with my mother, and taken my children on a trip out west. I've bought a boat and a puppy. I write bigger checks to charity."
About the Cancer Research InstituteThe Cancer Research Institute (CRI) is the world's only non-profit, private organization dedicated exclusively to the support and coordination of scientific and clinical efforts that will lead to the immunological treatment, control, and prevention of cancer. Guided by a world-renowned Scientific Advisory Council that includes five Nobel Prize winners and twenty-eight members of the esteemed National Academy of Sciences, CRI supports the finest cutting-edge cancer research at top medical centers and universities throughout the world.
As the initiator and steward of unprecedented global scientific and clinical collaborations like the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative, a joint program with the international Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and the Coordinated Cancer Initiatives, the Cancer Research Institute is ushering in a new era of scientific progress, hastening the discovery of effective cancer vaccines and other immune-based therapies that are providing new hope to cancer patients.
The Cancer Research Institute has one of the lowest overhead expense ratios among non-profit organizations, with the majority of its resources going directly to the support of its science, medical, and research programs. This has consistently earned CRI an A grade or higher for fiscal disclosure and efficiency from the American Institute of Philanthropy and top marks from other charity watchdog organizations. http://www.cancerresearch.org.
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