This is a single-institutional, randomized, open label platform clinical trial testing various immunotherapy combinations. Patients with newly diagnosed and surgically resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) and scheduled to undergo the Whipple procedure at Johns Hopkins Hospital were eligible to participate in this study. Criteria for determining resectability strictly followed National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. The study consisted of 6 parts: parts 1-5 constituted the Prime Phase (see below), and part 6 was the Extended Treatment Phase. Part 1: Participants received one cycle of immunotherapy two weeks prior to undergoing the Whipple procedure. Part 2: Subjects underwent the Whipple procedure. Part 3: Subjects received a second cycle of immunotherapy 4-10 weeks following the Whipple procedure (2-4 weeks prior to adjuvant chemoradiation). Part 4: Subjects underwent chemoradiation. Part 5: Subjects received 4 additional 28-day cycles of immunotherapy beginning 1-2 months after completing chemoradiation for a total of six cycles (two before chemoradiation and 4 following chemoradiation). Eligible subjects were randomized to Arms A and B in a 1:1 ratio, stratified up-front by age (≤65, >65). Arm A participants received Cy/GVAX. Arm B participants received the combination of Cy/GVAX and nivolumab. GVAX Vaccine consists of equal numbers (2.5 x 108 each) of Panc 6.03 pcDNA1GM-CSF and Panc 10.05 pcDNA1GM-CSF combined into a single vaccination. Each vaccination consisted of six total intradermal injections. A single intravenous (IV) dose of 200 mg/m2 Cy (CytoxanR) was given one day prior to GVAX. Anti-PD-1 Therapeutic Antibody Nivolumab 480 mg every 4 weeks was administered as an intravenous infusion. The primary objective for Arms A and B was to compare IL17 expression (Th17) in vaccine-induced lymphoid aggregates between resected PDAs from patients treated with the combination of Cy/GVAX and anti-PD-1 blockade antibody vs. the treatment of Cy/GVAX alone. Secondary objectives were to assess the safety, overall survival (OS), and disease free survival (DFS) of patients treated with each of the study drug combinations, and to assess the effects of each of the immunotherapy study drug combinations on PD-L1/PD-1 associated pathways, vaccine-induced immune regulatory signatures, and peripheral and intratumoral antigen specific T cell responses. The exploratory objective was to explore the effects of therapy on tumor and peripheral blood and tumor infiltrating immune cells, and to explore potential molecular determinants of response, progression and disease stability. To these ends, tumor infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) were obtained from surgically resected tumors following the neoadjuvant treatment of the study immunotherapy. TIICs were sorted into CD3+CD4+ T cells, CD3+CD8+ T cells, CD3-CD19+ B cells, and CD3-CD19-CD11b+ myeloid cells by flow cytometry. The sorted immune cell subtype pellets were sent to the commercial vendor (Eurofins) for RNA extraction and sequencing. SMART-seq v4 Ultra Low Input mRNA Sample Prep Kit was used for library preparation with 100bp paired end reads. FASTQ files, that were returned from the vendor, are deposited here.
