Ex-vivo assessment of T-cells homing in primary pancreatic cancer

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  A feasibility study assessing the ability of an ex-vivo assay to measure AMD3100's ability to overcome tumour immune-privilege and bring T cells into contact with neoplastic tissue.

• IRAS ID

  170803

• Contact name

  James Thaventhiran

• Sponsor organisation

  Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Western countries with a 5-year survival in the region of 25% in patients who undergo curative resection. Pancreatic cancer, unlike other cancers does not respond to immune therapies. Evidence suggests that cells of the immune system cannot come into contact with the cancer cells. Recent work from our institution showed that using the drug AMD3100 in a genetically engineered mouse model, a model that shares similar pancreatic cancer characteristics to humans, has promising results in terms bringing into close proximity to cancer larger number of T-cells. There is no evidence to date that these results can be extrapolated to humans, however, AMD3100 is being used in types of blood cancer. We plan to run a single-centre, prospective feasibility study involving patients with primary pancreatic cancer undergoing Whipple’s resection with a curative intent. The primary objective of our study is to assess the ability of ex-vivo treatment of pancreatic cancer tissue with AMD3100 to affect the proximity of T-cells, the cells that normally come into contact with cancer cells. An intra-operative tissue biopsy will be taken from the cancer site along with a venous blood sample. The tissue specimen will be taken to our research laboratory with the aim of measuring the T-cell changes in primary pancreatic cancer tissue ex-vivo, in the presence and absence of AMD3100. As this is a feasibility study,we plan to enrol initially 10 patients in our study over a 12 month period.

• REC name

  West of Scotland REC 3

• REC reference

  15/WS/0062

• Date of REC Opinion

  2 Apr 2015

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion