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

Jia, J, Morse, MA, Nagy, RJ, Lanman, RB, and Strickler, JH. "Cell-Free DNA Profiling to Discover Mechanisms of Exceptional Response to Cabozantinib Plus Panitumumab in a Patient With Treatment Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Cancer." Frontiers in Oncology 8 (August 28, 2018). (Academic Article)

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Osada, T, Hartman, ZC, Wei, J, Lei, G, Hobeika, AC, Gwin, WR, Diniz, MA, Spector, N, Clay, TM, Chen, W, Morse, MA, and Lyerly, HK. "Polyfunctional anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (anti-HER3) antibodies induced by HER3 vaccines have multiple mechanisms of antitumor activity against therapy resistant and triple negative breast cancers." Breast Cancer Research : Bcr 20, no. 1 (August 9, 2018): 90-null.

PMID
30092835
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Vlahovic, G, Meadows, KL, Hatch, AJ, Jia, J, Nixon, AB, Uronis, HE, Morse, MA, Selim, MA, Crawford, J, Riedel, RF, Zafar, SY, Howard, LA, O'Neill, M, Meadows, JJ, Haley, ST, Arrowood, CC, Rushing, C, Pang, H, and Hurwitz, HI. "A Phase I Trial of the IGF-1R Antibody Ganitumab (AMG 479) in Combination with Everolimus (RAD001) and Panitumumab in Patients with Advanced Cancer." The Oncologist 23, no. 7 (July 2018): 782-790.

PMID
29572245
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Kane, A, Thorpe, MP, Oldan, JD, Howard, BA, Zhu, J, Morse, MA, Wong, T, Petry, NA, Reiman, R, and Borges-Neto, S. "Predictors of survival in 211 patients with stage IV pulmonary and gastroenteropancreatic mIBG positive neuroendocrine tumors treated with I-131 mIBG." Journal of Nuclear Medicine : Official Publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine (May 18, 2018).

PMID
29777005
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Chino, F, Stephens, SJ, Choi, SS, Marin, D, Kim, CY, Morse, MA, Godfrey, DJ, Czito, BG, Willett, CG, and Palta, M. "The role of external beam radiotherapy in the treatment of hepatocellular cancer." Cancer (April 12, 2018). (Review)

PMID
29645076
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Evans, MK, Brown, MC, Geradts, J, Bao, X, Robinson, TJ, Jolly, MK, Vermeulen, PB, Palmer, GM, Gromeier, M, Levine, H, Morse, MA, Van Laere, SJ, and Devi, GR. "XIAP Regulation by MNK Links MAPK and NFκB Signaling to Determine an Aggressive Breast Cancer Phenotype." Cancer Research 78, no. 7 (April 2018): 1726-1738.

PMID
29351901
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Cohn, A, Morse, MA, O'Neil, B, Whiting, S, Coeshott, C, Ferraro, J, Bellgrau, D, Apelian, D, and Rodell, TC. "Whole Recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae Yeast Expressing Ras Mutations as Treatment for Patients With Solid Tumors Bearing Ras Mutations: Results From a Phase 1 Trial." Journal of Immunotherapy (Hagerstown, Md. : 1997) 41, no. 3 (April 2018): 141-150.

PMID
29528991
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Overman, MJ, Lonardi, S, Wong, KYM, Lenz, H-J, Gelsomino, F, Aglietta, M, Morse, MA, Van Cutsem, E, McDermott, R, Hill, A, Sawyer, MB, Hendlisz, A, Neyns, B, Svrcek, M, Moss, RA, Ledeine, J-M, Cao, ZA, Kamble, S, Kopetz, S, and André, T. "Durable Clinical Benefit With Nivolumab Plus Ipilimumab in DNA Mismatch Repair-Deficient/Microsatellite Instability-High Metastatic Colorectal Cancer." Journal of Clinical Oncology : Official Journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 36, no. 8 (March 2018): 773-779.

PMID
29355075
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Zhou, X, Qiao, G, Wang, X, Song, Q, Morse, MA, Hobeika, A, Gwin, WR, Ren, J, and Lyerly, HK. "CYP1A1 genetic polymorphism is a promising predictor to improve chemotherapy effects in patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with docetaxel plus thiotepa vs. docetaxel plus capecitabine." Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology 81, no. 2 (February 2018): 365-372.

PMID
29242966
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Crosby, EJ, Wei, J, Yang, XY, Lei, G, Wang, T, Liu, C-X, Agarwal, P, Korman, AJ, Morse, MA, Gouin, K, Knott, SRV, Lyerly, HK, and Hartman, ZC. "Complimentary mechanisms of dual checkpoint blockade expand unique T-cell repertoires and activate adaptive anti-tumor immunity in triple-negative breast tumors." Oncoimmunology 7, no. 5 (January 19, 2018): e1421891-null.

PMID
29721371
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