Erkut Borazanci

• M.D., M.S.
• Director Oncology at HonorHealth Research Institute

Introduction Many studies have reported the importance of the human microbiome in relationship to the overall health of its host. While recent studies have explored the microbiome’s role in various types of cancer compared to healthy patients, this pilot study is the first to investigate differences in the skin microbiome composition among pancreat...

742 Background: Front-line chemotherapy for patients (pts) with mPDAC typically consists of mFOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel given until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. For pts with durable disease control on front-line treatment, maintenance therapy that can effectively delay disease progression while preserving quality of li...

750 Background: Patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer have limited therapeutic options. Historical treatments have included systemic chemotherapy or palliative radiation. New advanced radiotherapy treatment techniques have allowed dose escalated ablative radiotherapy to be delivered for patients with cancer limited to the pa...

Lessons learned Intravenous paricalcitol did not improve the efficacy of pembrolizumab, likely related to the short half-life. Background Immunotherapy has limited benefit in the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer with the tumor microenvironment playing a key role in immune resistance. In preclinical studies, vitamin D receptor (VDR) agonists...

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, which involves extracting, expanding, and reinfusing immune cells to target cancer cells, has shown promise in melanoma treatment, but requires optimization for broader efficacy. The success of TIL therapy depends on the recognition of tumor-associated antigens, but neoantigen-reactive T-cells are often...

Background Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a common problem, can impair function and quality of life in patients, potentially limiting chemotherapy and adversely affecting outcomes. Methods This trial compared investigational hand therapy intervention (Investigational) compared with a traditional occupational therapy approach (T...

Background: CM24 (mAb) blocks CEACAM1 interactions, has key roles in cancer progression, immune escape and metastasis. CEACAM1 is part of the neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) complex, involved in tumor immune evasion, metastasis and cancer-associated thrombosis, affecting patient survival. We demonstrated that CM24 binds to NET and suppresses NE...

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by stromal fibrosis, hypoxia, and nutritional deprivation. Nutritional metabolic interventions may fundamentally change the tumor microenvironment and improve outcomes. A ketogenic diet (KD) (lower carbohydrate, moderate protein, higher fat) can significantly reduce glucose and in...

Background Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) continues to be a lethal disease. It has been established that 90% of PDAC patients harbor somatic oncogenic point mutations in KRAS, which leads to the activation of the RAS-to-ERK signaling pathway. This pathway is resistant to almost all known small molecule inhibitors and often gets reactivated...

INTRODUCTION: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a deadly disease with poor survival and limited therapy options. While traditional cytotoxic agents target cancer cells, there has been growing interest in tumor microenvironment (TME) modulation given that desmoplastic stroma and immune suppression are hallmarks of PDAC. Recently, vitam...

Background Modulation of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activity in tumor cells enhances chemotherapy efficacy. We evaluated the selective GR modulator relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) who had received at least 2 prior therapy lines. Patients and Methods In this open-label, single-...

Background A previous phase IB/II study of nab‐paclitaxel + cisplatin + gemcitabine (NABPLAGEM) in 25 patients with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) demonstrated favorable results. This phase II study was conducted to further evaluate the safety, efficacy, and impact on quality of life (QOL) of NABPLAGEM in a...

LBA4143 Background: The novel monoclonal antibody CM24 blocks the activity of Carcinoembryonic Antigen Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 (CEACAM1), known to have key roles in cancer progression, immune evasion, and metastasis. We present the interim efficacy and safety data from the global multi-center, open label, randomized Phase 2 study (NCT 04731467) in...

TPS4206 Background: Front-line chemotherapy for patients (pts) with advanced or mPDAC typically consists of mFOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel given until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. For pts with durable disease control on front-line treatment, maintenance therapy that can effectively delay disease progression while preservi...

The human genome contains G-rich regions that are over-represented in many cancer gene promoters. These can form higher-order G-quadruplex arrangements under the influence of an appropriate and selective small molecule compound. The resulting ligand-G-quadruplex complex may be resistant to polymerase read-through and thus results in transcriptional...

Background: Triptolide and its water-soluble prodrug, Minnelide™, have shown promising activity against pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Triptolide induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells by different pathways, including caspase-dependent apoptotic death and caspase -independent autophagic death...

Background Vitamin D agonism has been shown in preclinical studies to decrease the production of collagen, decrease myeloid derived suppressor cells, and decrease regulatory T cells in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Paricalcitol is a vitamin D analog used for vitamin D replacement for those with secondary hyperparathyroidism. Two individu...

Simple Summary Nabpaclitaxel plus gemcitabine is the standard of care treatment for advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. This therapy reported improved overall survival in metastatic PDAC. Despite the efficacy of available treatments, the poor outcome for patients with PDAC ne...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a formidable challenge in the realm of oncology, characterized by its aggressive nature and resistance to treatment. Several therapeutic regimens have been shown to extend patient survival, but the majority of the patients become refractory to the treatments in a short period of time. Hence, it is cri...

667 Background: Neoadjuvant therapy has become the consensus treatment for individuals with locally advanced (LA) and borderline resectable (BR) PDAC. Neoadjuvant therapy for resectable (R) PDAC has been in greater use due to concerns over micro metastases at diagnosis. Typical therapies involve the use of multiagent systemic chemotherapy with or w...

654 Background: BNT321 is a high affinity human monoclonal antibody targeting the sialyl Lewis A epitope of CA19-9. This Phase 1/1b dose escalation/expansion study investigated BNT321 as monotherapy and in combination with mFOLFIRINOX (mFFX) in patients (pts) with advanced CA19-9 expressing cancers. Methods: Eligible pts: progressive CA19-9 express...

666 Background: The standard of care for patient (pts) with advanced or mPDAC typically consists of mFOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel used in the front-line setting until disease progression (prog) or toxicity. A tolerable maint therapy (tx) that can effectively delay disease prog while preserving quality of life with minimal cumulative tox...

Background: The monoclonal antibody CM24 blocks the activity of carcinoembryonic antigen cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1), which is known to have several important roles in cancer progression, immune evasion, and metastasis. The homophilic interaction of CEACAM1 on tumor cells and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) silences the anti-tumor immu...

Background Minnelide is a water-soluble prodrug of triptolide. Triptolide is an anticancer agent that targets cancer resistance through several mechanisms. Minnelide was evaluated in a phase I study in patients with advanced GI carcinomas to establish the safety, pharmacodynamic, antitumor activity, and recommended phase II dose (RP2D). Patients a...

Background Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) accounts for 90% of all pancreatic carcinomas. Prognosis is poor with a worldwide five-year survival rate of 2–9%. Extent of metastasis is a prognostic factor. Most common metastatic sites include the liver, peritoneum, lung, and bones. We report a case of distant metastasis of PDAC to the left cho...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy in need of new therapeutic options. Using unbiased analyses of super-enhancers (SEs) as sentinels of core genes involved in cell-specific function, here we uncover a druggable SE-mediated RNA-binding protein (RBP) cascade that supports PDAC growth through enhanced mRNA translation. This...

Selective glucocorticoid receptor (GR) modulators (SGRMs) represent a clinically validated mechanism of enhancing chemosensitivity and ameliorating the sequelae of hypercortisolism. While GRs reportedly control the expression of up to 20% of the human genome, specific targets of systemic GR antagonism in humans have yet to be identified. To address...

Background: Cancer therapy has witnessed great progress over the last 50 years with advancements in diagnostic tools to enable more precise treatment. With the development of next-generation sequencing, the field of precision oncology has been expanded to tailor treatments to a patient's mutational profile, however, there is a need for additional i...

Malignant ascites is the accumulation of fluid in the peritoneum as a result of advanced cancer and often signifies the terminal phase of the disease. Management of malignant ascites remains a clinical challenge as symptom palliation is the current standard of cure. Previously, studies examining malignant ascites largely focused on ovarian and gast...

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal disease that is often diagnosed at a late stage, when it has metastasized to other organs. Several therapeutic options have been shown to be effective at significantly shrinking the tumor and improving survival. Unfortunately, very few of these treatments lead to the total disappearance of tumor and therefore re...

Recent efforts to personalize treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy and PARP inhibitors have produced promising results in homologous recombinant deficient (HRD) metastatic pancreatic cancer (MPC). However, new strategies are necessary to overcome resistance. The below case series documents patients treated at the HonorHealth Research Institut...

Purpose To assess the preclinical efficacy, clinical safety and efficacy, and MTD of palbociclib plus nab-paclitaxel in patients with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Experimental Design Preclinical activity was tested in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of PDAC. In the open-label, phase I clinical study, the dose-escalation...

Purpose: Tilsotolimod is an investigational synthetic Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist that has demonstrated anti-tumor activity in preclinical models. The ILLUMINATE-101 phase 1 study explored the safety, dose, efficacy, and immune effects of intra-tumoral (it) tilsotolimod monotherapy in multiple solid tumors. Methods: Patients with a diagn...

Background Activation of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is linked to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), with a strong association between LIF expression and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). MSC-1 (AZD0171) is a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds with high affinity to LIF, promoting antitumor inflammation through TAM modu...

Background & Aims Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) incidence is rising worldwide, and majority of patients present with an unresectable disease at initial diagnosis. Measurement of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) levels lack adequate sensitivity and specificity for early detection; hence, there is an unmet need to develop alternate molecu...

Objectives: The monoclonal antibody CM24 binds to and blocks carcinoembryonic antigen cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1), which is known to have several important roles in cancer progression. A Phase 1/2 study (NCT 04731467) includes in its Phase 1 part, a dose escalation of CM24 administered with nivolumab for the treatment of refractory cancer pa...

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States by 2030. Most of the PDAC patients are diagnosed with advanced disease, and less than 20% of patients are resectable at the time of diagnosis. The current imaging tools and blood markers (e.g. CA 19-9), a...

The interaction between tumor cells and immune system has been studied mostly in animal models and co-cultures with cell lines. However, it is difficult to study the unique features of human immune cells in mice, and cell lines are often transformed or immortalized by genetic modification. Organoid platform has emerged as a powerful tool which main...

3097 Background: FF-10832 is a stable liposomal formulation of gemcitabine (GEM) shown to overcome resistance through increased plasma stability and enhanced tumor drug delivery. Macrophage uptake and immune activation in the tumor microenvironment (TME) play a role in the superior efficacy of FF-10832 compared to GEM, with selective, marrow-sparin...

TPS4181 Background: The mainstay of treatment (TX) for pts with advanced or mPDAC consists of CT, with FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine (gem)/nab-paclitaxel currently representing the front-line standards of care. TX is generally continued until either dis progression (progr) or cumulative toxicity, with pts often reaching a plateau in response after 4-6...

4140 Background: Pancreatic cancer remains the third-leading cause of cancer-related death in the US. Average overall survival is only one year, and no standard therapies exist beyond second line. Chemotherapy resistance is one reason for the poor outcomes in pancreatic cancer, which can be caused by, among other factors, excess tumor expression of...

Purpose: Chemotherapy resistance remains a major problem in many solid tumors, including breast, ovarian, and pancreatic cancer. Glucocorticoids are one potential driver of chemotherapy resistance as they can mediate tumor progression via induction of cell-survival pathways. We investigated whether combining the selective glucocorticoid receptor m...

583 Background: At least 15% of patients diagnosed with localized pancreatic cancer are medically unfit for surgical resection or systemic therapy. Traditionally, these patients are enrolled in palliative care with symptom management alone. With local progression of their disease, they may experience pain, obstruction, weight loss and nausea. Radio...

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive malignant disease with a poor prognosis. Despite high efficacy in multiple cancers, immunotherapy has had very little success in treating PDAC due to unfavorable characteristics such as low tumor mutational burden (TMB), low microsatellite instability (MSI), and non-immunogenic t...

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that high concentrations of AA (vitamin C) can decrease the growth of aggressive tumors, including Ras-mutant tumors. Based on the unmet need in MPC, its high frequency of Ras mutations, and prior work combining PP +C +G in pts with MPC (response rate of 70.5%, median survival 16.4 mos), we explored the addi...

Background: Preoperative (neoadjuvant) therapy has become the preferred treatment sequencing strategy for patients with localized pancreatic cancer. During neoadjuvant therapy, approximately 30% of patients will experience metastatic disease progression while on treatment. Therefore, tools to aid clinicians to select efficacious first-line chemothe...

Background: Effective therapy for the treatment of PDAC remains one of the greatest unmet oncology clinical needs. The addition of C to G and AP has shown 71% ORR in a previously reported study [JAMA Oncol. 2019 Oct 3;6(1):125-32]. In preclinical work, vitamin D (Vit D) analog therapy decreases myeloid derived suppressor cells and regulatory T cell...

Purpose There is a major shortage of reliable early detection methods for pancreatic cancer in high-risk groups. The focus of this preliminary study was to use Time Intensity-Density Curve (TIDC) and Marley Equation analyses, in conjunction with 3D volumetric and perfusion imaging to demonstrate their potential as imaging biomarkers to assist in th...

Purpose: We present seven cases of advanced cancer patients who initially underwent tumor testing utilizing smaller, panel-based tests, followed by a variety of therapeutic treatments which ultimately resulted in progression of their disease. These cases demonstrate the value of utilizing WES/RNA seq and characterization following disease progress...

Purpose: DNA methylation alterations have emerged as front-runners in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) biomarker development. However, much effort to date has focused on single cancers. In this context, gastrointestinal (GI) cancers constitute the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide; yet there is no blood-based assay for the early detectio...

Purpose: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is largely unresponsive to checkpoint inhibitors. Blockade of the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis increases intratumoral trafficking of activated T cells while restraining immunosuppressive elements. This study evaluates dual blockade of CXCR4 and PD1 with chemotherapy in PDAC. Experimental design: Multicenter,...

p>Purpose: Pancreatic cancer has limited options for early detection and this study tried to tackle that issue using TIDC (Time Intensity Density Curve), 3D volumetric and perfusion imaging. Experimental Design: This quantitative study was done by analyzing multi-phase CT images of patients undergoing treatment of different stages of pancreatic duc...

Background: Improving outcomes of PDAC with checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) have been ineffective, underscoring the need to co-target alternative pathways. Preclinical data showed that CXCR4-SDF1 axis modulates the tumor microenvironment (TME) in PDAC and that CXCR4 inhibition enhances T cell access to the TME, increasing tumor sensitivity to CPIs. Th...

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to define the best CT perfusion analytical method for the surgical candidacy of pancreatic cancer patients in Neo-Adjuvant treated clinical trial population. Experimental Design: Study was designed to assess tumor perfusion status. This prospective study involved 24 adult patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma...

Dysregulation of alternative pre-mRNA splicing has been identified as a common mechanistic driver of tumor initiation, disease progression, and emergence of therapy resistance. An iterative screening campaign identified SM08502, a potent pan-inhibitor of CDC-like kinases (CLKs), which are known to regulate alternative splicing. In preclinical studi...

Background We conducted a first-in-human dose-escalation study with the oral FASN inhibitor TVB-2640 to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D), as monotherapy and with a taxane. Methods This completed open-label outpatient study was conducted at 11 sites in the United States and United Kingdom. Patients with...

Background We assessed the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of the transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) receptor inhibitor galunisertib co-administered with the anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibody durvalumab in recurrent/refractory metastatic pancreatic cancer previously treated with ≤2 systemic regimens. Methods This was a two...

Background NKTR-262 is a small-molecule agonist of toll-like receptors (TLR) 7/8. Given by intratumoral (IT) injection, NKTR-262 is retained within the tumor microenvironment (TME) and promotes an immunostimulatory milieu and tumor antigen release. Bempegaldesleukin (BEMPEG) is a CD122-preferential IL-2 pathway agonist, which increases proliferatio...

Background Solid tumors such as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) comprise not just tumor cells but also a microenvironment with which the tumor cells constantly interact. Detailed characterization of the cellular composition of the tumor microenvironment is critical to the understanding of the disease and treatment of the patient. Single-cel...

Palbociclib (P), an oral cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitor, has shown antitumor activity in preclinical PDAC models. In Avatar PDAC models, P+ nab-paclitaxel (A) was more effective than either agent alone and similar to P+A+gemcitabine. This study assessed safety, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD), preliminary efficacy, and...

Purpose: In view of high cancer-specificity, DNA methylation alterations have emerged as front-runners in biomarker development, especiy as cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) biomarkers for early detection of cancer. However, much effort to date has focused on developing cancer type-specific biomarkers, but have not explored the possibility of developing a pan...

Background: Tilsotolimod, an investigational Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist, modulates the tumor immune microenvironment and has single-agent antitumor activity in preclinical models. The ILLUMINATE-101 phase 1b study (NCT03052205) explored the safety, efficacy, and immune effects of intratumoral tilsotolimod in multiple solid tumors. Methods:...

Purpose: Whole genome sequencing is utilized in the clinic with limited benefit. Only a fraction of patients sequenced will have a driver mutation that can be targeted by a drug. Treating with a targeted therapy often demonstrates a response but ultimately, resistance results in progression. Many of the common mutations, like KRAS, are currently no...

Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine, which is highly expressed in a subset of tumors and correlates with poor prognosis. LIF is hypothesized to contribute to tumor microenvironment immunosuppression and regulation of cancer stem cells. MSC-1 is a first-in-class humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody that potently and selectively...

Purpose: Taletrectinib (DS-6051b/AB-106) is an oral, tyrosine kinase inhibitor of ROS1 and NTRK with potent pre-clinical activity against ROS1 G2032R solvent-front mutation among others. We report the first-in-human US-phase 1 results of taletrectinib. Patients and methods: Patients ≥18 years old with neuroendocrine tumors, with tumor-induced pa...

Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) inhibitors have limited effect in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), underscoring the need to co-target alternative pathways. CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) blockade promotes T cell tumor infiltration and is synergistic with anti-PD-1 therapy in PDAC mouse models. We conducted a phase IIa, open-label, two-coho...

Lessons learned: This trial evaluating a novel plant extract, PBI-05204, did not meet its primary endpoint of overall survival but did show signals of efficacy in heavily pretreated mPDA. PBI-05204 was generally well tolerated, with the most common side effects related to treatment being vomiting (23.7%), nausea (18.4%), decreased appetite (18.4%)...

Purpose: Metformin combined with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin showed potential synergistic anti-tumor activity in preclinical studies in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). This phase 1b study (NCT02048384) was conducted to evaluate the feasibility and activity of metformin +/- rapamycin in the maintenance setting for unselected patients with...

3059 Background: CBP501 is a 12-amino acid G2 checkpoint abrogator and calmodulin-modulating peptide that increases platinum influx into tumor cells and induces tumor immunogenic cell death. CBP501 also suppresses platinum-induced release of cytokines by macrophages, lowers cancer stem cell populations, and reduces migration, invasion, and epitheli...

4631 Background: Localized PDAC management has recently evolved. Due to concerns over micro metastases at diagnosis the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for PDAC has become more common. Typical therapies involve the use of multiagent systemic chemotherapies with or without radiation therapy. In retrospective studies, Cancer Antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) no...

e16720 Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the third most lethal form of cancer in the United States, and is most often diagnosed having already metastasized, making its 5-year survival rate one of the lowest. Metastatic PC (mPC) is most common at sites such as liver, lymph nodes, and lung while, in contrast, brain metastases from PC are rare. Br...

Lessons learned: Although this study of idelalisib in patients with PDAC was limited in size and duration because of early termination, idelalisib exposure resulted in an overall safety profile consistent with studies in hematological malignancies, except that the incidences of diarrhea and colitis were reduced in patients with PDAC. Preclinical s...

TPS784 Background: Patients(pts) with metastatic pancreatic cancer (PC) have a median survival of less than one year even with use of multiagent chemotherapy programs. Pancreatic tumors are composed of multiple cell types and a dense extracellular matrix that may support cancer cell proliferation and impede chemotherapy delivery. Cancer-associated...

698 Background: Survival statistics for mPDA are dismal and with limited treatment options novel agents are needed to improve disease outcomes. PBI-05204 (Phoenix Biotechnology, Inc., San Antonio, TX) is a modified supercritical carbon dioxide extract of Nerium oleander leaves. Oleandrin, the extract’s major cytotoxic component, has demonstrated an...

700 Background: Few studies have examined maintenance therapy in unselected pts with metastatic PDA (mPDA). mTOR signaling is central to several oncogenic pathways in PDA and also has a role in T cell differentiation and activation, and we hypothesized a role for mTOR inhibition (mTORi) in the maintenance setting. Methods: This was a randomized ope...

Background: Localized PDAC management has recently evolved. Due to concerns over micrometastases at diagnosis, the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for PDAC has become more common. Typical therapies involve the use of multiagent systemic chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy. Cancer antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) normalization in borderline resecta...

Background: Pancreatic cancer remains a deadly disease, and immunotherapy is effective in only 1-2% of microsatellite instability-high pancreatic cancers. The response to immunotherapy is very heterogeneous across tumor types, but recently there is evidence that the gastrointestinal microbiome may influence the response to immunotherapy. The SU2C C...

Introduction: Based on the unmet medical need in MPC, its high frequency of Ras mutations, and prior work combining PP + C + G demonstrating an objective response rate of 70.5% in 24 pts with MPC with a median survival of 16.4 mos (J Clin Oncol 2017;35 [suppl 4S; abstract 341]), we are exploring the addition of HD AA to PP + C + G (#NCT03410030). B...

Importance Genomes of metastatic pancreatic cancers frequently contain intrachromosomal aberrations, indicating a DNA repair deficiency associated with sensitivity to DNA damaging agents, such as platinum. Objective To determine response rate following treatment with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine plus platinum-based cisplatin for patients with m...

Background Tilsotolimod, a synthetic toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist, modulates the tumor immune microenvironment and has antitumor activity as monotherapy in preclinical models. In the ILLUMINATE-204 phase I/II study of tilsotolimod in combination with ipilimumab in patients with refractory melanoma, increased antitumor immune activity was obs...

Background Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine, highly expressed in a subset of tumors and correlates with poor prognosis. LIF is hypothesized to contribute to tumor microenvironment (TME) immunosuppression and regulation of cancer initiating cells. MSC-1 is a first-in-class humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody that potently an...

Background Molecular analysis has revealed four subtypes of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). One subtype identified for the presence of DNA damage repair deficiency can be targeted therapeutically with the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib. We performed a single institution retrospective analysis of treatment response i...

Background: Effective therapy for the treatment of PDAC remains one of the greatest unmet oncology clinical needs. The addition of C to G and AP has shown promising clinical data in a previously reported study [J Clin Oncol 35, 2017 (suppl 4S; abstract 341)]. In preclinical work, vitamin D (Vit D) analog therapy decreases myeloid derived suppressor...

Introduction: The aggressive nature of pancreatic cancer makes it one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Survival rates remain low with standard therapy. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma accounts for nearly 90% of pancreatic malignancies, and early detection could have a major impact on disease prevention and early treatment. This s...

Background Triptolide and its water-soluble prodrug, Minnelide™, have shown promising activity against pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Triptolide induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells by different pathways, including caspase-dependent apoptotic death and caspase -independent autophagic death....

While checkpoint inhibitor therapy has transformed treatment of multiple tumor types, many patients remain refractory. Tilsotolimod, a toll-like receptor 9 agonist, has been shown in preclinical models to activate plasmacytoid dendritic cells and increase T cell infiltration to the tumor microenvironment. Preliminary results of a phase 1/2 study su...

Background Triptolide and its water-soluble prodrug, Minnelide™, have shown promising activity against pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Triptolide induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells by different pathways, including caspase-dependent apoptotic death and caspase -independent autophagic death....

Background: Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in many physiological and pathological processes. LIF is highly expressed in a subset of tumors across multiple solid tumor types and has been shown to correlate with poor prognosis. LIF is hypothesized to contribute to tumor growth and progression by acting on multiple...

Introduction: The aggressive nature of pancreatic cancer makes it one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Survival rates remain low with standard therapy. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma accounts for nearly 90% of pancreatic malignancies, and early detection could have a major impact on disease prevention and early treatment. This s...