A Pilot Study of Active Immunotherapy With Carcinoembryonic Antigen Peptide-Pulsed, Autologous Human Cultured Dendritic Cells in Patients With Resected, Stage I, II and III Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Expressing Carcinoembryonic Antigen

Study start date: June 1, 1998

Disease Characteristics: Histologically confirmed stage I, II, or III adenocarcinoma of the pancreas Resected with no gross residual disease At least 50% of tumor cells must be CEA positive and stain with at least moderate intensity HLA-A2 positive Patient Characteristics: Age: 18 and over Performance status: Karnofsky 70-100% Life expectancy: Greater than 6 months Hematopoietic: Absolute neutrophil count at least 1000/mm3 Hepatic: Bilirubin less than 2.0 mg/dL SGOT and alkaline phosphatase less than 4 times the upper limit of normal No hepatic failure Renal: Creatinine less than 2.0 mg/dL OR Creatinine clearance greater than 50 mL/min Cardiovascular: No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease Pulmonary: No concurrent asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Other: No other malignancy except nonmelanoma skin cancer or controlled superficial bladder cancer within the past 5 years. No history of autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, or multiple sclerosis No active acute or chronic infection such as urinary tract infection, HIV, or viral hepatitis No active infectious enteritis or eosinophilic enteritis Not pregnant or nursing Fertile patients must use effective contraception Prior Therapy: Biologic therapy: At least 4 weeks since immunotherapy. No other concurrent immunotherapy Chemotherapy: At least 4 weeks since chemotherapy and recovered. No concurrent chemotherapy Endocrine therapy: No concurrent corticosteroid or immunosuppressive therapy. At least 6 weeks since steroid therapy Radiotherapy: At least 4 weeks since radiotherapy and recovered Surgery: Recovered from prior surgery