Diana Hargreaves, PhD

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a leading cause of cancer death in America. PC has few treatment options. Immunotherapy is a treatment that has promise. Immunotherapy can cure cancer, but it has never worked for PC. We found that some PCs respond well to immunotherapy. These patients have a mutation in a SWI/SNF gene. We began a trial to test how SWI/SNF mutant PCs respond to immunotherapy. We will collect blood to see what changes with treatment. We will make mice with SWI/SNF mutant cancer and test if these mice respond to immunotherapy. We will also test if blocking SWI/SNF with a drug can make tumors respond to immunotherapy. We hope to identify PC patients that can benefit from immunotherapy. We will also identify new treatments for PC that may help other patients.