# MRI-Guided Dendritic-Cell-Based Vaccine Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2020 · $342,816

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Dendritic Cell (DC) is a newly emerging and potent form of cancer immune therapy. However, the efficacy of
antigen-loaded DCs (DC-vaccines) is strongly influenced by their ability to migrate to peripheral draining lymph
nodes (LNs). Therefore, it is critical to monitor the in vivo biodistribution of DC-vaccines after vaccination in
order to optimize DC therapy for pancreatic cancer. In this study, we propose magnetically labeling DC-
vaccines to permit magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of their migration to LNs. We will use clinically
applicable approaches combining FDA-approved drugs (ferumoxytol, heparin, and protamine) for magnetic
DC-vaccine labeling, in which magnetic DC-vaccines can be visualized with advanced MRI methods. These
techniques may offer future insights into the dynamics and kinetics of DC migration in vivo and the related
impacts upon therapeutic outcomes in both pre-clinical and clinical research settings. Additional translational
studies should ultimately follow to evaluate the efficacy of these approaches for early prediction of longitudinal
outcomes during DC therapy in a broad range of tumor etiologies.
This project will address the following Specific Aims using KPC transgenic mouse model of pancreatic cancer.
Aim 1: To optimize clinically applicable methods for magnetic-labeling of DC-vaccines and determine the
quantitative imaging properties of these vaccines with in vitro MRI phantom studies; Aim 2: To assess whether
magnetic-labeling of the DC-vaccine permits quantitative in vivo MRI of subsequent migration to the draining
LNs following DC-based vaccination; and Aim 3: To determine whether that MRI monitored DC-vaccine
migration to LNs can predict therapy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10336295
- **Project number:** 7R01CA209886-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Zhuoli Zhang
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $342,816
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2021-01-02 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10336295

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10336295, MRI-Guided Dendritic-Cell-Based Vaccine Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer (7R01CA209886-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10336295. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*