Herbert Zeh, MD, FACS

Our group is exploring the use of gene therapy techniques to engineer viruses to stimulate the immune system to fight pancreatic cancer. In this proposal we will modify a vaccinia virus (similar to the virus used to immunize against smallpox) to produce hormones that attract a certain kind of tumor fighting immune cell called T cells to the sites of tumor.  

We have already administered a similar virus to patients and found that it is able to be delivered through the blood stream safely, travel to sites of tumor and infect the tumor cells. We have also shown that a special way to stimulate the immune system to generate tumor fighting T cells called aDC1 is effective in patients with a very aggressive kind of brain tumor.  

In this study we will combine these two approaches (stimulate T cells with aDC1 and attract them to the tumor with the vaccinia virus) in patient who have pancreatic cancer. There are several clinical trials examining immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer in progress at this time, we believe our approach will be a significant improvement on current trials.