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Chi et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2020;6:43 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2020.90 Metastasis and Treatment

Review Open Access

Recent advances in immunotherapy for pancreatic
cancer

Jeffrey Chi, Rajvi Patel, Hasan Rehman, Shreya Goyal, Muhammad Wasif Saif

Department of Medical Oncology/Hematology, Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, New York,
NY 11042, USA.
Correspondence to: Dr. Jeffrey Chi, Department of Medical Oncology/Hematology, Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine
at Hofstra/Northwell, New York, NY 11042, USA. E-mail: jchi@northwell.edu
How to cite this article: Chi J, Patel R, Rehman H, Goyal S, Saif MW. Recent advances in immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer. J
Cancer Metastasis Treat 2020;6:43. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2020.90
Received: 31 Aug 2020 Accepted: 20 Oct 2020 Published: 6 Nov 2020

Academic Editor: Godefridus J. Peters Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Jing Yu

Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a disease with a dismal prognosis. Since 1996 there have
only been two upfront regimens found to be superior to gemcitabine: FOLFIRINOX (5-fluorouracil, leucovorin,
irinotecan and oxaliplatin), and gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel. Despite the improvement noted in these
trials, PDAC is highly chemo-resistant and patients who respond will inevitably develop resistance. The unique
immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment with extensive desmoplasia has posed challenges to developing
new and effective treatments. Therapeutic vaccines, combination treatments, adoptive T cell transfer, as well as
immunomodulators are being explored. With the emerging use of immunotherapy and immunomodulators, the
scope of this review is to present the current data on these agents as well as focus on the advancements in the
treatment of PDAC. Overall, results in this realm have been disappointing to date reflecting the non-immunogenic
and complex tumor microenvironment of PDAC.

Keywords: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, chemoresistance, desmoplasia, tumor microenvironment,
extracellular matrix, immunogenicity, immunotherapy, vaccines, immune checkpoint inhibitors, immunomodulation

INTRODUCTION
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a grim prognosis and is now the third leading cause of
[1]
cancer-related deaths in the United States . Furthermore, it is estimated that pancreatic cancer will become

© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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