Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer

On November 20, 2014, Gregory Beatty, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and in the Division of Hematology/Oncology within the Abramson Cancer Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discussed the latest advancements in the development of immunotherapies to treat pancreatic cancer.

Despite significant effort to improve upon standard treatment modalities, including chemotherapy and radiation, pancreatic cancer has remained largely treatment resistant with little change seen in the 5-year overall survival rate over the past 20 years. However, with recent success now seen in other solid cancers, immunotherapy is gaining increased attention as a promising treatment option for pancreatic cancer. Several clinical trials investigating immunotherapy are under way and novel preclinical models of pancreatic cancer are helping to guide the development of potent immunotherapies for this disease.

Dr. Beatty graduated from Bucknell University and received his Ph.D. in immunology followed by an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He went on to complete a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in medical oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Beatty’s research interest is in developing novel immunotherapies for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, including pancreatic cancer. He has developed a research platform within his laboratory that uses mouse models of cancer to study the role of the immune system in cancer and to screen novel immunotherapeutic strategies, including cell and gene therapies, for the treatment of cancer.

This webinar is part of the Cancer Research Institute's webinar series, "Cancer Immunotherapy and You," which are offered free to the public and feature informative updates for patients and caregivers from leaders in cancer immunotherapy, followed by a Q&A. For more information on this webinar, or to register for upcoming webinars, please visit www.cancerresearch.org/webinars.