{"id":291181,"date":"2025-11-30T09:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T09:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291181\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T09:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T09:50:13","slug":"lori-was-diagnosed-with-terminal-breast-cancer-and-given-two-years-to-live-now-20-years-later-she-is-healthy-and-thriving-this-is-how-she-and-eight-others-were-cured-and-why-thousands-more-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291181\/","title":{"rendered":"Lori was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and given two years to live. Now, 20 years later, she is healthy and thriving. This is how she and eight others were ‘cured’… and why thousands more could get the same treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lori Lober is a busy woman. Her Facebook<\/a> shows a life spent watching American football with her girlfriends, drinking cocktails on exotic holidays, and going out for dinner in Kansas<\/a> City, Missouri<\/a>, with her husband John.<\/p>\n

\u2018Every morning, I wake up and thank God for another day,\u2019 says the former interior designer. \u2018And then I spend as much time as possible with my loved ones.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lori\u2019s life may seem like a retirement dream, but it\u2019s one she never takes for granted. Because nearly 25 years ago, at just 38, Lori was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer<\/a> and told she had only a 2 per cent chance of living for five more years.<\/p>\n

\u2018The doctors led me to believe I was never going to reach 40,\u2019 she says. \u2018The cancer had been missed for three years. By the time they found it, it had spread throughout my body.\u2019<\/p>\n

Today, however, Lori is 62 and cancer-free. She believes her miraculous recovery is due to an experimental cancer vaccine she received in 2002, alongside eight other women with advanced breast cancer and very few other treatment options.<\/p>\n

Now, The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal that a 20-year follow-up of the trial set to be published next month will show that all nine women are alive and with no sign of the disease. It\u2019s an extraordinary outcome.<\/p>\n

While statistically unlikely that just one woman diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer would survive for another two decades, the chance that nine such women could is estimated at roughly one in 63trillion.<\/p>\n

Experts say that vaccines such as the prototype received by these women are the future of cancer treatment.<\/p>\n

\"Lori <\/p>\n

Lori Lober is now cancer free at the age of 62. She believes her recovery is due to a vaccine she received in 2002 alongside eight other women who also had advanced breast cancer<\/p>\n

\"Lori <\/p>\n

Lori with her husband, John. The American was diagnosed with breast cancer when aged 36<\/p>\n

\"She <\/p>\n

She is now thriving, enjoying a busy lifestyle which includes watching American football<\/p>\n

Until recently, cancer vaccines were considered, among researchers, a pipe dream \u2013 even the stuff of science fiction. However, in the past five years alone, thousands of British patients \u2013 and countless more around the world \u2013 have received vaccines for lung, skin and ovarian cancers as part of landmark trials. And within just five years or so, it\u2019s possible that some could even be available on the National Health Service.<\/p>\n

But, crucially, experts believe the decades-old vaccine given to Lori may hold the key to boosting the effectiveness of all cancer jabs in development \u2013 potentially paving the way for a cure for aggressive forms of the disease.<\/p>\n

\u2018Studies like this show vaccines do work for cancer,\u2019 says Dr Lennard Lee, associate professor at the University of Oxford and a cancer vaccine expert. \u2018These women show if you can activate a person\u2019s immune system to fight cancer, it can stay active for decades.\u2019<\/p>\n

The need for new cancer treatments is clear.<\/p>\n

Cancer mortality rates have fallen by over a fifth since the 1970s, and advancements in surgery and radiotherapy, as well as new immune-boosting and chemotherapy drugs, mean that patients are twice as likely to live ten years or more after diagnosis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, in the same period, the number\u00a0of people developing cancer has risen by almost 50 per cent, largely due to an aging population and increase in rates of obesity.<\/p>\n

For some cancers \u2013 such as pancreatic and brain cancer, which tend to only be diagnosed once they\u2019ve already spread \u2013 very little progress has been made.<\/p>\n

But now experts believe vaccines could be the key to reducing deaths from all cancers.<\/p>\n

\u2018People may be incredulous that you can vaccinate against cancer,\u2019 says Dr Serena Nik-Zainal, professor of genomic medicine at the University of Cambridge and a scientist at Cancer Research UK. \u2018But the idea is that one day we won\u2019t see the type of mortality associated with cancer right now.<\/p>\n

\u2018Vaccines could allow cancer to become more like diabetes \u2013 something that people can just live with. And we think this can happen in our lifetime.\u2019<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional vaccines, which prevent diseases from taking hold by boosting the body\u2019s ability to defend itself against foreign invaders, cancer vaccines aim to treat the disease after it\u2019s occurred, by training the body to protect itself against its own damaged or abnormal cells.<\/p>\n

Exposing the body to molecules associated with a specific cancer, these jabs effectively turbocharge the immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells. It means that, should the cancer return, the immune system will spot it immediately and destroy the cells before they have time to spread.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a project that\u2019s been in development for decades, with plenty of false starts.<\/p>\n

But in the past five years, progress has skyrocketed due to breakthroughs made during the race to find a Covid-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n

So-called mRNA vaccine technology is at the heart of this advance \u2013 the same technology that is used in the Pfizer and Moderna Covid jabs.<\/p>\n

Short for messenger RNA, mRNA is found inside cells: it\u2019s the genetic code the body uses to produce proteins \u2013 molecules that form the building blocks of new cells, hormones, enzymes and other compounds.<\/p>\n

In this type of cancer vaccine, man-made mRNA is injected into the body, programmed with codes that instruct it to produce specific protein molecules that prime the body\u2019s immune system to fight cancerous cells.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a technology that\u2019s already been used to create a vaccine for deadly skin cancer melanoma \u2013 vital stage three trial results are expected to be published next year. And the world\u2019s first trial of an mRNA lung cancer vaccine \u2013 called LungVax \u2013 was announced just last week, after years of research by scientists at Cambridge and Oxford universities.<\/p>\n

However, these new treatments are unlikely to be slam-dunks.<\/p>\n

In the case of the melanoma jab, early results suggest it can reduce the risk of death by 44 per cent. It also costs \u00a3400,000 per patient, making it potentially prohibitively expensive for the NHS.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a prostate cancer vaccine approved for use in the US failed to get the NHS green light after officials decided its efficacy \u2013 reducing the risk of death by nearly a quarter \u2013 was not enough to justify its \u00a370,000 per patient price tag.<\/p>\n

For this reason, experts say the striking results from the Lori Lober vaccine study could prove significant in the hunt for a highly effective cancer jab.<\/p>\n

The trial, which was carried out by Duke University, North Carolina, pre-dated mRNA technology. Instead, the researchers involved used something known as a dendritic cell vaccine, an older and more basic jab than mRNA, which uses the body\u2019s existing cells to fight the cancer.<\/p>\n

In the case of these nine participants, cells were removed from their bodies and then programmed to specifically target a protein in the body called HER2. For around a fifth of women with breast cancer, their body produces too many of these HER2 proteins, which encourage cancer cells to grow and spread much faster than normal.<\/p>\n

By targeting this protein, the researchers theorised, they could slow, and more easily kill, the cancer cells.<\/p>\n

In 2002, when the researchers, led by Dr Herbert Kim Lyerly, professor of surgery and immunology at Duke University, developed the vaccine, the process was so expensive they were only able to afford to trial it on nine patients.<\/p>\n

All the women had advanced cancer and a very poor prognosis because it had spread throughout the body, making it near-impossible to cure.<\/p>\n

Most women who are diagnosed at this stage live for no more than a few years, and often less.<\/p>\n

The women went through standard breast cancer treatment, although each slightly differed in what they received \u2013 including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other experimental medicines. In Lori\u2019s case, this had involved six months of chemotherapy before and after a double mastectomy.<\/p>\n

Then, once as much of the cancer as possible had been removed, the participants were given the vaccine \u2013 a single dose injected into their arm. After this they took an immune-boosting breast cancer drug called trastuzumab once a month.<\/p>\n

At the time, not many people believed the trial would actually work, according to Prof Lyerly. \u2018People used to laugh at the idea of a vaccine,\u2019 he says. \u2018There wasn\u2019t much enthusiasm about this approach at all.\u2019<\/p>\n

But, in 2007, a follow-up revealed all nine women were cancer-free. And now, 20 years later, all are alive and well.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to stress that the trial, given its small size, can\u2019t prove anything more than an association between the vaccine and the women\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n

Medicines are almost always approved only after thousands of patients have taken part in what is known as a double-blind randomised control trial \u2013 the gold-standard for medical research.<\/p>\n

However, experts say that the striking findings deserve close attention.<\/p>\n

Prof Nik-Zainal describes the trial\u2019s results as \u2018incredible\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Metastatic HER2 positive breast cancer patients are usually dead within five years,\u2019 she says. \u2018To see this result after 20 years is very impressive.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, experts say perhaps the most significant finding from the trial occurred when the blood from the nine women was examined, and they all had sky-high numbers of a specific type of immune cell, called CD27.<\/p>\n

This has been historically overlooked in cancer vaccine research, says Prof Lyerly. Instead, most vaccine trials have focused on boosting CD8 immune cells, which hunt down and kill tumour cells. By contrast, CD27 cells, are \u2018helpers\u2019, meaning they simply assist the killer cells in finding the cancer.<\/p>\n

But CD27 cells could be even more crucial to producing a long-term immune response, the Duke team hypothesised.<\/p>\n

To try to prove this, researchers gave mice a dendritic cell breast cancer vaccine.<\/p>\n

They then injected them with CD27 antibodies to boost their immune response.<\/p>\n

The combined therapy cured cancer in 90 per cent of the mice, compared with 6 per cent that received the vaccine alone.<\/p>\n

The implications of this finding are potentially staggering.<\/p>\n

While the original vaccine unwittingly caused this immune system response naturally, simply boosting CD27 alongside any other targeted vaccine \u2013 whether it\u2019s a mRNA, dendritic cell or any other type \u2013 could dramatically improve results for a range of cancers.<\/p>\n

\u2018This study shows how important CD27 is in that long-term response and tumour control,\u2019 says Prof Arkenau. \u2018And this theory can apply for many different cancers as well as different types of vaccine.\u2019<\/p>\n

Not everyone is so convinced.<\/p>\n

\u2018The problem with many of these therapies is that it\u2019s very hard to get the engineered cells in the right place at the right time,\u2019 says Professor Thomas Powles, director of Barts Cancer Centre. \u2018You often end up losing half of them on the way. And then, when the cells do get into the cancer, they\u2019re too exhausted to do anything. We need to sort these problems before they can become a productive therapy.\u2019<\/p>\n

Prof Powles adds that he is wary of trials involving fewer than 50 patients or that come from just one hospital. \u2018It does look promising,\u2019 he says. \u2018But we would need to launch a much larger study to come to a proper conclusion.\u2019<\/p>\n

Prof Lyerly agrees \u2013 and reveals that his team are preparing to run larger studies. But he hopes that his vaccine project \u2013 now nearly 30 years in the works \u2013 will have broad implications for all corners of cancer research.<\/p>\n

He says: \u2018I just want this to open up people\u2019s thoughts into strategies they hadn\u2019t considered. It can\u2019t just be coincidence that all these women are still alive\u2019.<\/p>\n

For Lori, the fact she is alive, 25 years on from her diagnosis, is unequivocally due to the vaccine.<\/p>\n

\u2018I know it\u2019s been instrumental in my whole journey because I\u2019ve met so many women with stage four breast cancer who have done other studies, had the exact same treatments I had, or made the same lifestyle changes as me \u2013 and none of them are here today,\u2019 she says. \u2018It\u2019s not that they did anything wrong, they just didn\u2019t have access to this vaccine.\u2019<\/p>\n

NHS patients already getting the high-tech life-saving injections\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some patients have already received pioneering cancer vaccines on the NHS.<\/p>\n

The first vaccine for melanoma skin cancer was tested on Health Service patients in spring of 2024.<\/p>\n

The jab is personalised to each patient\u2019s tumour \u2013 using the same technology that created the Covid-19 vaccines \u2013 to instruct the body to make proteins that attack the cancer. Early results suggest that the therapy can drastically improve the survival chances of patients with the disease \u2013 the deadliest form of skin cancer.<\/p>\n

Steve Young, 52, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, was one of the first to receive the jab. He describes it as his \u2018best chance of stopping the cancer in its tracks\u2019.<\/p>\n

Mr Young, pictured left, was diagnosed with melanoma after a lump on his head \u2013 which he thinks he may have had for around a decade \u2013 turned out to be cancerous.<\/p>\n

More than 60 other people also received the high-tech jab at hospitals in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Leeds.<\/p>\n

Experts say that many cancer vaccine developers are aiming to get their treatments approved by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lori Lober is a busy woman. Her Facebook shows a life spent watching American football with her girlfriends,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[97,1325,59,102,14590,104,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-291181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-facebook","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-missouri","13":"tag-nhs","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}