Ponte Vedra woman beats cancer with new clinical trial vaccine

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Ponte Vedra woman is now the face of hope for breast cancer patients after a new clinical trial vaccines gives groundbreaking results.

Lee Mercker is the first patient of this clinical trial that administers a specific vaccine to patients with Stage 0 breast cancer.

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"We actually have multiple clinical trials with the cancer vaccine here at Mayo Clinic," Dr. Saranya Chumsri said. "This particular one is designed to attack specific protein in the cancer cells."

Chumsri said they are only trying this specific formula of vaccine on Stage 0 breast cancer patients. However, they have other clinical trials with Stage 4 patients that are also showing positive results.

Mercker was diagnosed with cancer during a routine mammogram. She said her physician later referred her to the Mayo Clinic, where the cancer cells were found in both breasts.

"I always considered myself very healthy, active lifestyle, eating right, keeping up on all of my checks," Mercker said. "In a routine mammogram, they found DCIS, Stage 0. No big tumors or masses but contained in the ducts."

Since she fit all of the criteria for the trial, she was offered the vaccine. She agreed to be the first patient in this trial.

"I had a lot of cancer in my family," Mercker said. "Not necessarily breast, but it spread like crazy. With this vaccine, it was to prevent recurrence and other cancers from forming. So I thought it was my best shot."

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Chumsri said the vaccine acted as a stimuli for T-cells to then target and eliminate cancer cells in the duct before it could spread.

Mercker had 12 weeks of treatment. The vaccines would take up to six hours per session, with two-week breaks in between. After her final session, she said she had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. The lab results on her breast tissue showed no cancer cells.

"You get your diagnosis and it's devastating for all family members," Mercker said. "You go through your treatments and you may be doing great and what's worse you get a call one day and it's returned. So this vaccine helps with that."

Chumsri said they are now trying the vaccine on two new patients with Stage 0 breast cancer. However, they are hoping to test it on more to get more accurate results.

"We need more participants to know for sure whether the vaccine will be working for sure," Chumsri said. "The patients still need to have the surgery done because that's how we learn how the vaccine is working."

Cox Media Group