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
- A Phase III Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo Controlled, Multi-centre Study of Durvalumab Monotherapy or in Combination with Bevacizumab as Adjuvant Therapy in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Who Are at High Risk of Recurrence After Curative
- A Phase III, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Studyof Transarterial Chemoembolization (TACE) in Combination with either Durvalumab Monotherapy or Durvalumab plus Bevacizumab Therapy in Patients with Locoregional Hepatocellula
- Beyond PD1: An immunotherapeutic strategy to stimulate and enable both T-cell and B-cell responses in immunosuppressive and non-mutated metastatic breast cancer
- Preventing Inflammatory Breast Cancer Metastases by Interrupting Cellular Stress Signaling in Lymphatic Emboli and Circulating Tumor Cell Clusters
- A Randomized, Open-label, Multi-center Phase III Study of Durvalumab and Tremelimumab as First-line Treatment in Patients with Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HIMALAYA)
- An Open-Label Multicenter Phase 1 Study to Evaluate the Safety, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of H3B-6527 in Subjects With Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma or Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma
- Phase Ib/II Study of Pembrolizumab with Lanreotide Depot for Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (PLANET)
- Developing a HER3 Vaccine to Prevent Resistance to Endocrine Therapy
- A pilot study of active immunotherapy with CEA (6D) VRP vaccine (AVX701) in patients with stage III colon cancer.
- Translational Research in Surgical Oncology
- UNC - Duke Immunotherapy Training Program
- Phase Ib/II Study of Pembrolizumab with Lanreotide Depot for Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (PLANET)
- A Phase 1/2 open label study of Nivolumab monotherapy or Nivolumab combined with Ipilimumab in subjects with advanced or metastatic solid tumors.