The first goal of this proposal is to collect cells from the peripheral blood, tumor draining lymph nodes and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in patients with early or late stage gastrointestinal cancers. These samples will be evaluated in a variety of immunological assays to better understand the immune response to these two cancers. The second goal of this proposal is to evaluate using novel proteomic, cellomic, and genomic techniques the serum and peripheral blood lymphocytes of these patients for protein, cellular changes and genetic markers that correlate with the presence of cancer. The information gathered from these studies will directly enhance our ability to design, conduct and monitor novel immunotherapeutic protocols for the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal cancer.
