Medical Oncology

Michael Aaron Morse, MD

Professor of Medicine
Professor in the Department of Surgery
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
Campus mail Duke Box 3233, Durham, NC 27710
Phone (919) 681-3480
Email address morse004@mc.duke.edu

We are studying the use of immune therapies to treat various cancers, including gastrointestinal, breast, and lung cancers and melanoma. These therapies include vaccines based on dendritic cells developed in our laboratory as well as vaccines based on peptides, viral vectors, and DNA plasmids. Our group is also a national leader in the development and use of laboratory assays for demonstrating immunologic responses to cancer vaccines. Finally, we are developing immunotherapies based on adoptive transfer of tumor and viral antigen-specific T cells.

Our current clinical trials include phase I and II studies of immunotherapy for: patients with metastatic malignancies expressing CEA, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer, and leukemias following HSCT. My clinical area of expertise is in gastrointestinal oncology, in particular, the treatment of hepatic malignancies, and malignant melanoma.

Key words: dendritic cells, immunotherapy, vaccines, T cells, gastrointestinal oncology, melanoma, hepatoma

Education and Training

  • Fellow in Hematology-Oncology, Medicine, Duke University, 1993 - 1996
  • Medical Resident, Medicine, University of Washington, 1990 - 1993
  • M.D., Yale University, 1990

Grants

Publications

Sun, Yuanyuan, Suya Wang, Hainan Yang, Jiangping Wu, Sha Li, Guoliang Qiao, Shuo Wang, et al. “Impact of synchronized anti-PD-1 with Ad-CEA vaccination on inhibition of colon cancer growth..” Immunotherapy 11, no. 11 (August 2019): 953–66. https://doi.org/10.2217/imt-2019-0055.

PMID
31192764
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Zhao, Y., G. Qiao, X. Wang, Y. Song, X. Zhou, N. Jiang, L. Zhou, et al. “Combination of DC/CIK adoptive T cell immunotherapy with chemotherapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients: a prospective patients' preference-based study (PPPS)..” Clin Transl Oncol 21, no. 6 (June 2019): 721–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-018-1968-3.

PMID
30374838
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Morse, Michael A., Michael J. Overman, Leighanne Hartman, Taline Khoukaz, Edith Brutcher, Heinz-Josef Lenz, Ajlan Atasoy, Tong Shangguan, Huanyu Zhao, and Bassel El-Rayes. “Safety of Nivolumab plus Low-Dose Ipilimumab in Previously Treated Microsatellite Instability-High/Mismatch Repair-Deficient Metastatic Colorectal Cancer..” Oncologist, May 30, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1634/theoncologist.2019-0129.

PMID
31147488
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Crosby, Erika J., William Gwin, Kimberly Blackwell, Paul K. Marcom, Serena Chang, Holden T. Maecker, Gloria Broadwater, et al. “Vaccine-Induced Memory CD8+ T Cells Provide Clinical Benefit in HER2 Expressing Breast Cancer: A Mouse to Human Translational Study..” Clin Cancer Res 25, no. 9 (May 1, 2019): 2725–36. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-3102.

PMID
30635338
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Wang, Xiaoli, Shuo Wang, Michael A. Morse, Ni Jiang, Yanjie Zhao, Yuguang Song, Lei Zhou, et al. “Prospective randomized comparative study on rivaroxaban and LMWH for prophylaxis of post-apheresis thrombosis in adoptive T cell immunotherapy cancer patients..” J Thromb Thrombolysis 47, no. 4 (May 2019): 505–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11239-019-01844-7.

PMID
30903459
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Lv, Shuzhen, Shuo Wang, Guoliang Qiao, Xiaoli Wang, Xinna Zhou, Fengcai Yan, Yanping Li, et al. “Functional CD3+CD8+PD1- T Cell Accumulation and PD-L1 Expression Increases During Tumor Invasion in DCIS of the Breast..” Clin Breast Cancer, April 16, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clbc.2019.04.001.

PMID
31101455
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Chawla, Sant P., Howard Bruckner, Michael A. Morse, Nupur Assudani, Frederick L. Hall, and Erlinda M. Gordon. “A Phase I-II Study Using Rexin-G Tumor-Targeted Retrovector Encoding a Dominant-Negative Cyclin G1 Inhibitor for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer..” Mol Ther Oncolytics 12 (March 29, 2019): 56–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omto.2018.12.005.

PMID
30705966
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Fishman, M., J. P. Dutcher, J. I. Clark, A. Alva, G. P. Miletello, B. Curti, Neeraj Agarwal, et al. “Overall survival by clinical risk category for high dose interleukin-2 (HD IL-2) treated patients with metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC): data from the PROCLAIMSM registry..” J Immunother Cancer 7, no. 1 (March 27, 2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40425-019-0567-3.

PMID
30917871
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Qiao, Guoliang, Xiaoli Wang, Lei Zhou, Xinna Zhou, Yuguang Song, Shuo Wang, Lei Zhao, et al. “Autologous Dendritic Cell-Cytokine Induced Killer Cell Immunotherapy Combined with S-1 Plus Cisplatin in Patients with Advanced Gastric Cancer: A Prospective Study..” Clin Cancer Res 25, no. 5 (March 1, 2019): 1494–1504. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-2360.

PMID
30514775
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Wang, Jiangbo, Xiu-Rong Ren, Hailan Piao, Shengli Zhao, Takuya Osada, Richard T. Premont, Robert A. Mook, Michael A. Morse, Herbert Kim Lyerly, and Wei Chen. “Niclosamide-induced Wnt signaling inhibition in colorectal cancer is mediated by autophagy..” Biochem J 476, no. 3 (February 8, 2019): 535–46. https://doi.org/10.1042/BCJ20180385.

PMID
30635359
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Pages