This inaugural grant funds the expansion of the University of Washington School of Medicine’s clinical trial of WOKVAC, an advanced vaccine for breast cancer. The trial tests the potential of the vaccine to help prevent cancer recurrence and to transform patient outcomes.

WOKVAC has demonstrated a favorable safety profile and robust immune response in early-stage patients with HER2+ breast cancer. The expansion allows the researchers to enroll additional participants to understand their cancer-killing immune response and strengthen the trial’s statistical power.

“Cancer vaccines are real and at a tipping point,” said Dr. Nora Disis, professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine in Seattle. She directs the Cancer Vaccine Institute at UW Medicine and is in the Clinical Research Division of Fred Hutch Cancer Center. “This financial support puts us closer to a future where we can activate our own immune systems to fight cancer.”

In this clinical trial, the WOKVAC vaccine is administered alongside chemotherapy and targeted therapies in patients with stage 1, 2 or 3 HER2+ breast cancer, prior to tumor-removal surgery.

“Our goal in this study is twofold,” explained principal investigator Dr. Will Gwin. “We aim to maximize the immune system’s ability to fight cancer during treatment, and then to generate long-lasting immune memory that can help prevent the disease from coming back. This could be a revolutionary step in a new and more effective class of cancer treatments.” Gwin is an assistant professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine and a Fred Hutch Cancer Center researcher and physician.

The Cancer Vaccine Coalition is a national nonprofit launched by breast cancer survivor and former Today Show and NBC Nightly News correspondent Kristen Dahlgren to accelerate the development of the most promising cancer vaccines.

“This is an important day for our effort to bring less toxic and more effective treatments to patients,” said Dahlgren, “With this grant, we can help answer critical questions and move therapeutic cancer vaccines toward approval.  Other countries are already embracing large-scale trials of cancer vaccines.  CVC is building powerful collaborations and raising funds to do that here.”

The V Foundation partners with CVC in its commitment to immunotherapy approaches. The WOKVAC trial expansion is funded through the Game-Changer Grant program, made possible by a $2 million matching gift from the Brian and Sheila Jellison Family Foundation.

“The WOKVAC study expansion is exactly the type of bold, high-impact research The V Foundation exists to fund,” said Susanna Greer, chief scientific officer at the V Foundation. “The University of Washington and Fred Hutch’s expertise is world-class, and this work could spark discoveries that ripple across the cancer research community; changing lives for generations.”

Over 280,000 individuals are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.  HER2-positive breast cancer is one of the most aggressive subtypes. WOKVAC targets the HER2 protein (a cancer antigen) and two other cancer proteins with a multi-antigen vaccine that stimulates tumor-specific immunity.

“Getting WOKVAC alongside my treatment felt like an added layer of protection — hope grounded in science,” said Carmel Laurino, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 and is a WOKVAC vaccine recipient. “I’m grateful I had access to this trial, and I want more patients to have the same chance. A vaccine that’s safe, scalable, and affordable could save not only lives, but livelihoods. With these additional resources to expand the research, it feels like we’re so much closer to making that future possible for all patients who need it.”

Photos by Leila GrayA supersized grant check for cancer vaccine research. Left to right: Kiran Dhillon, Will Gwin, Kristen Dahlgren and Nora Disis.