Vaccine-induced memory CD8+ T cells provide clinical benefit in HER2 expressing breast cancer: a mouse to human translational study.

Dr. Crosby received her PhD in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania where she used models of chronic infection to understand how the immune system causes damage to healthy tissue. She arrived at Duke for a postdoctoral fellowship where she applied this knowledge to test new therapies that bypass this immune system regulation to treat breast cancer. Dr. Crosby remained at Duke to start her own research program in 2021.

Breast cancer angiogenesis
Breast cancer in younger women
Hormonal therapy
Neoadjurant therapy for breast cancer

Current Clinical Investigations

Principal Investigator, A Phase I-II Study of Neoadjuvant Evacet/Paclitaxel/Hyperthermia in Locally Advanced Breast Cancer Patients.

Investigator, Development of Screening Markers for Breast Cancer using Circulating Immune Complexes: Collaborative Study with Diagen Medical Technologies.

Principal Investigator, Use of Plasma D-Dimer as a Predictive Marker in Colorectal Carcinoma: Correlative Science Study with Genentech, Inc.

Principal Investigator, A randomized, Phase II study of gabapentin or glutamine to prevent the peripheral neuropathy/myalgia associated with weekly taxol administration in metastatic breast and lung cancer.

Investigator, A Phase 2, Randomized, Double-Masked, Multicenter Study of Two Dose Levels of ERA-923 for the treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women who have failed Tamoxifen therapy. Genetics Institute.

Investigator, A Phase I Study of Combined Doxil/Hyperthermia in Stage IV Breast Cancer.

Basic Science:
-Germline and somatic genetic changes in breast cancer.

Translational:
-Identification and management of individuals and families with hereditary cancer risk.
-Communication of cancer risk information to individuals and families.
-Breast cancer prevention.
-Optimizing management of early breast cancer.
-Treatment of metastatic breast cancer


Clinically, Dr. Marcom works as a medical oncologist in the multidisciplinary breast cancer clinic. He participates in clinical trials investigating new chemotherapeutic and biologic treatments. 

I am the PI of the Cancer Initiation and Cancer Cell Behavior lab. Our research objective is to determine how cancer cells adapt and grow before cancer is diagnosed. Our lab is also part of the Center for Applied therapeutics where we share our models as tools for preclinical and translational research. To learn more about our research please visit the Cancer Initiation and Cancer Cell Behavior Lab's homepage.

We are studying the use of immune therapies to treat various cancers, including gastrointestinal, breast, and lung cancers and melanoma. These therapies include vaccines based on dendritic cells developed in our laboratory as well as vaccines based on peptides, viral vectors, and DNA plasmids. Our group is also a national leader in the development and use of laboratory assays for demonstrating immunologic responses to cancer vaccines. Finally, we are developing immunotherapies based on adoptive transfer of tumor and viral antigen-specific T cells.

Our current clinical trials include phase I and II studies of immunotherapy for: patients with metastatic malignancies expressing CEA, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer, and leukemias following HSCT. My clinical area of expertise is in gastrointestinal oncology, in particular, the treatment of hepatic malignancies, and malignant melanoma.

Key words: dendritic cells, immunotherapy, vaccines, T cells, gastrointestinal oncology, melanoma, hepatoma

My research interests encompass studies of immunity and inflammation in the context of developing and established cancers. These research interests involve studies of inflammation in the genesis and maintenance of specific cancer types (principally breast and ovarian), as well as the impact of inflammation on tumor metastasis and the tumor microenvironment.  My group is also involved in strategies to modulate the immune response to tumors, which involves the use of novel immunotherapeutic strategies and development of vaccines to specific oncogenic targets.  The major focus of my lab is in uncovering strategies to modulate tumor-derived inflammation and tumor-specific immunity that will translate into clinically efficacious therapies in patients.