research cancelled

The purpose of this study is to see if SBRT will be a better way to treat pancreas cancer and to find out what effects, good and/or bad, this treatment will have on participants and their cancer.

The standard treatment for cancer of the pancreas is surgery (if possible), external beam radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy. These standard treatments are not a cure and often extend life by just a few months. Recently, a new approach has been developed, called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Based on the results of earlier studies using SBRT, the study doctors at Moffitt feel this is a reasonable alternative to the standard treatment for your disease.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) delivers high radiation doses to the tumor every day for 5 days which gives the usual 5-6 week course of radiation in less than a week. It has also been shown to have much less side effects.

The purpose of this study is to see if SBRT will be a better way to treat pancreas cancer and to find out what effects, good and/or bad, this treatment will have on you and your cancer.

Six patients will be asked to be part of a subgroup called TBRI (Tissue, Blood, Research Imaging). In this subgroup, the investigators want to study if there is early death of tumor cells from the treatment by looking at the tumor using PET/CT scans and biopsies, and by testing your body's white blood cells taken by a procedure called leukapheresis. You do not have to take part in the TBRI subgroup to get treatment on this study with SBRT.

Inclusion Criteria - All Patients:

• Biopsy proven, non-metastatic, pancreatic cancer
• Unresectable disease based on institutional standardized criteria for unresectability
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status 0-2
• CT scan of chest and abdomen (3-phase pancreas protocol), and PET-CT within 4 weeks of study entry
• Patients with biliary or gastroduodenal obstruction must have drainage, duodenal stenting, or gastric bypass prior to initiating radiation
• All disease must be encompassed in a single radiation field
• No evidence or history of an autoimmune dysfunction
• Negative pregnancy test within 7 days of study entry
• No prior or concurrent chemotherapy
• No previous or concurrent immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer
• Liver enzymes ≤ 3 times upper limit of normal (ULN): total bilirubin (Tbili) ≤ 3.9 (biliary stents are allowed); aspartic transaminase (AST) ≤ 177; alanine transaminase (ALT) ≤ 198; Alkaline phosphatase (ALK-P) ≤ 378
• Adequate pretreatment organ function: Creatinine no greater than 1.5mg/dL; Total calcium no greater than 11.0mg/dL; prothrombin time (PT) no greater then 14 seconds; partial thromboplastin time (PTT) no greater then 40 seconds
• Ability to give informed consent
• Adequate baseline hematopoietic function: total white blood cell count equal to or greater than 3,000/mm³; absolute granulocyte count greater than 1,500/mm³; absolute lymphocyte count greater than 500/mm³; platelet count equal to or greater than 100,000/mm³

Inclusion Criteria - TBRI Group:

• All Participant inclusion criteria
• Amenable to leukapheresis as determined by a leukapheresis nurse
• Primary tumor that is accessible to direct intratumoral injection by CT-guidance confirmed by interventional radiologist
• No history of autoimmune disease
• No history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or other immunosuppressive diseases
• No active viral or bacterial infection
• No use of steroids or any other immunosuppressive drug at least 4 weeks prior to enrollment on study

Exclusion Criteria - All Patients:

• Prior history of radiotherapy that overlaps with the planned ports to the primary pancreatic tumor
• Patients with tumors that are not accessible to direct access cannot be included in the study.
• Prior or concurrent chemotherapy
• Prior history of antineoplastic therapy or irradiation
• Prior treatment with anti-tumor vaccines not allowed
• Patients with a history of autoimmune diseases
• A history of HIV infection, AIDS or other immunosuppressive disease state. The need to exclude patients with HIV/AIDS is because one of the endpoints of the study is immune response. People with HIV have a compromised immune system and enrollment in this study could confound the results (TBRI only)
• Patients requiring corticosteroids are ineligible because one of the endpoints of the study is immune response. Since steroids modulate the immune system, enrollment of patients on steroids could confound the results. There must be no use of corticosteroids in the fours weeks preceding entry into the study (TBRI only).
• Active bacterial, fungal or viral infection
• Active bleeding (hemoptysis, melena, etc.)
• Women who are currently pregnant or actively breast feeding. Women of childbearing potential must have a negative serum pregnancy test and must use effective contraception during trial participation
• Any medical or psychiatric illness which in the opinion of the principal investigator might compromise a patient's ability to tolerate or complete treatment
• Any patient requiring blood thinners (due to risk of gastrointestinal [GI] bleed)