Neoantigen vaccines in pancreatic cancer: overcoming resistance to improve immune responses
Official title: Project 2: Mechanisms of Resistance to Neoantigen Vaccines in PDAC
Funded at Washington University · NIH-11419673 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This grant supports testing advanced neoantigen vaccines in pancreatic cancer to boost patients' immune responses and potentially improve outcomes.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Washington University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Saint Louis, United States) |
| Project start | August 28, 2023 |
| Project end | June 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $355,885 |
| NIH project number | 5P50CA272213-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11419673 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who have completed neoadjuvant chemotherapy and are eligible for the window before surgery.
✕Less likely to help
Patients not undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy or not eligible for the window pre-surgery design may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
This project builds on prior work to understand how pancreatic cancer can resist immune vaccines and uses software tools to select the best tumor-specific targets. It involves testing optimized neoantigen vaccines in PDAC patients who have received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with a focus on measuring immune responses and clinical outcomes in the tumor and blood. The approach includes both DNA-based and synthetic long peptide vaccines, along with analyses of T cell activity in the tumor microenvironment. The study design leverages a window before surgery to closely observe how vaccines shape immune cells in the cancer setting.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, vaccines could elicit stronger anti-tumor immune responses and improve survival for pancreatic cancer patients.
How similar studies have gone: Earlier trials and analyses suggest neoantigen vaccines can induce immune responses and may correlate with better outcomes in some patients.
Where this research is happening
-
Washington University
Saint Louis, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hawkins, William G — Washington University
- Study coordinator: Hawkins, William G
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Targeting epigenomic regulators to assault pancreatic cancer replication stress
This research tests a new way to treat pancreatic cancer by blocking key epigenetic regulators during DNA replication to make cancer cells less able to cope with replication stress.
-
CD11b-activating drug to make pancreatic cancer respond to immunotherapy
A study to see if a CD11b-activating drug (GB1275) can help pancreatic cancer patients respond better to immunotherapy when combined with standard chemotherapy and PD-1 blockers.
-
Targeting autophagy to treat KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer
This grant explores using approved drugs to block autophagy in KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer to improve treatment outcomes.
-
Reprogramming PDAC stroma by targeting blood clotting in the tumor environment
A cancer research grant aimed at turning the tough, fibrous pancreatic cancer environment into one that helps treatments work better and supports the body’s immune response.
-
Understanding paracrine signals in pancreatic cancer to improve drug delivery
A patient-focused look at how the tumor’s signaling networks affect treatment delivery in pancreatic cancer and how targeting these networks could help therapies reach tumors more effectively.
-
Collagen and PDAC: how the tumor’s surrounding support system shapes growth and immunity
This grant looks at how collagen in pancreatic cancer interacts with tumor cells and the immune system to influence disease progression.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.