Tumor Imaging and Biopsy

In order to acquire a personalized pancreatic cancer treatment profile, sequences of immunologically active tumor neoantigens must first be identified. An MRI will be performed on the patient to detect locations of pancreatic cancer throughout the body (Raman and Fishman, 2018). Although CT scans are also used for the same purpose, the MRI is safer for the patient’s long-term health as it is not irradiative and carcinogenic. To obtain a representative sample of cancerous tissue with as many neoantigens as possible, the PancreAss Kickers will biopsy regions of high tumor cellularity (Cullinan et al. 2018). PBMCs will be isolated from a blood sample, plated, and differentiated into dendritic cells through treatment with interleukin 4 (IL-4) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). This process takes approximately a week (Geissmann et al. 2010). CD4+ and CD8+ T cells will also be isolated in this initial blood sample and set aside for later.