Typhoid Vaccine in Testing Response to Immune Stress in Patients With Stage I-IIIA Breast Cancer Who Received Chemotherapy

Inclusion Criteria

• Women who have been diagnosed with stage I-IIIA breast cancer will be recruited 1-10 years after the completion of all primary cancer treatment except for longer-term hormonal therapies (tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors); recruit women who have received chemotherapy, with the highest priority given to women who had one of the two most common stage I-IIIA chemotherapy regimens, either docetaxel/cyclophosphamide or doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel to provide uniformity of prior treatment, as well as those who have not
• All women will be postmenopausal, defined as having follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and estradiol within the institutional postmenopausal range at the time of study entry and no menstrual cycle in the last 12 months

Exclusion Criteria

• A prior history of any other malignancy except basal or squamous cell skin cancers, strokes, diabetes, current heart disease or uncontrolled hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, liver disease, autoimmune and/or inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis, and other medical conditions that would limit participation in the assessments (e.g., pulmonary disease, orthopedic problems, major psychiatric illness, major cognitive dysfunction, or an acute medical problem)
• Anemia (defined as having a hemoglobin level less than 11.7 g/dL for white women, following the Ohio State University (OSU) hospital’s criteria, and 11.5 for African American women, based on data from Beutler and Waalen)
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Smoking
• Individuals who routinely take fish oil, krill oil, or flaxseed (oil, pills, or powder) or consume more than two portions of oily fish per week
• Women with blood pressures above 180/100 or below 80/50
• Medication exclusions will include steroids as well as statins and other medications with anti-inflammatory actions
• Antidepressant users who have been medicated for at least three months will not be excluded
• Women who have received typhoid vaccine within three years or any other vaccine within three months will be excluded