For some patients with advanced cancer, immunotherapy can mediate complete and durable regression of widely metastatic disease. However, most gastrointestinal cancers, including 95% of colon cancers and nearly all pancreatic cancers, do not respond to the FDA-approved immunotherapy regimens that have proven to be effective for patients with other types of cancers.

In the Surgery Branch, we are performing bench-to-beside research to enhance the function of the immune system by preserving and regenerating T cell function, and are engineering T cells to efficiently target unique cancer mutations. Finally, we are investigating fundamental aspects of cancer cell biology to make cancer cells more visible to the immune system.

We are translating this research through our adoptive cellular immunotherapy platform for patients with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal cancers. Also, for patients with surgically resectable but high risk tumors, we are developing novel combinatorial immunotherapy treatments that may help stimulate immune responses and prevent tumor recurrence.