Phase I/II Intratumoral DC Immunotherapy With Gemcitabine & XRT in Unresectable Pancreatic Cancer

This is an interventional treatment trial for Pancreatic Cancer Read More

Inclusion Criteria:1. Patients must have histologically or cytologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. The site of the primary lesion should be confirmed endoscopically, radiologically, or surgically to be in the pancreas.

2. Patients must be deemed unresectable due to involvement of critical vasculature, adjacent organ invasion, presence of metastasis, or other medical condition making surgical resection unfavorable.

3. Patients must have a primary or metastatic lesion measurable in at least one dimension by RECIST criteria within 4 weeks prior to entry of study 4. More than 4 weeks must have elapsed from the time of major surgery or completion of the last dose of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, investigational therapy and patients must adequately recover from these effects.

5. Life expectancy of >3 months. 6. Karnofsky performance status >70%. 7. Patients must have normal organ and marrow functions as defined below: absolute neutrophil count >1,500/mm3 platelets >70,000/mm3 total bilirubin <1.5 mg/dL AST(SGOT)/ALT(SGPT) <2.5 X institutional upper limit of normal creatinine within normal institutional limits OR creatinine clearance >60mL/min/1.73 m2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal.

albumin > 2.8 mg/dL 8. Patients must have adequate clotting function (platelet > 70k; INR<1.4; PTT<60).

9. Age >18 years. 10. The effects of DCs on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason, women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation. Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately.

11. No history of autoimmune diseases. 12. Ability to understand the study protocol and a willingness to sign a written informed consent document. Exclusion Criteria:1. Patients receiving anticoagulation therapy.

2. Patients who have received prior gemcitabine or radiation therapy to the pancreatic bed 3. Patients receiving any other investigational agents. 4. Patients with known brain metastases will be excluded because of their poor prognosis and because they often develop progressive neurological dysfunction that would confound the evaluation of neurological and other adverse effects.

5. Uncontrolled concurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situation that would limit compliance with study requirements.

6. Patients who test positive for Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus or HIV.