A recent study from Northwestern University School of Medicine explored the question of whether the immune response to implants leads to beneficial antibodies against cancer. We typically think of the immune system as a vanguard against foreign invaders such as viruses or incompatible organ transplants. But like foreign tissue, breast tumors also have specific antigens that our natural defenses detect in their regular surveillance. Two of these antigens, called mammaglobin-A and mucin-1, provoke the development of antibodies which help suppress tumors that produce them. The researchers found that having implants led to higher levels of antibodies against these tumor antigens.

The researchers first compared anti-cancer antibody levels in age-matched women with implants and women without, noting levels to be higher in the implant group. So far, so good, but we all know that correlations don’t prove causation. They then tracked antibody titers in women before having implants to after, finding consistent elevation. Clearly the implants had something to do with it.

This suggests that in a way, breast implants may behave like a sort of anti-cancer vaccine. They activate some of the same immune pathways that are being explored for actual anti-cancer vaccines, which have been in development for years. These aren’t yet a clinical reality, but we may be getting close (see reference 2 for a summary from the Cancer Vaccine Institute of the University of Washington on anti-breast cancer vaccines).