# Duke Cancer Institute

Source: https://onco.cc/institutions/duke-cancer-institute/  
OnCo record `duke-cancer-institute` (Institution). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

One of the original NCI comprehensive centres (1973), famous for brain tumour research including the polio-virus immunotherapy for glioblastoma.

## Summary

Duke has held NCI comprehensive designation since 1973. The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, built by Darell Bigner, developed the recombinant polio-rhinovirus PVSRIPO oncolytic immunotherapy for recurrent glioblastoma and, with Hai Yan, helped define IDH mutations in glioma. Duke investigators helped lead pivotal HER2 breast cancer trials including EMILIA (trastuzumab emtansine), and its prostate programme (Andrew Armstrong, Daniel George) is a fixture of Alliance and NCI trials. The Duke Clinical Research Institute is the largest academic clinical research organisation in the world and runs many oncology trials. Michael Kastan's DNA-damage biology and dendritic cell vaccine work under Smita Nair anchor the basic and immunology programmes.

## Fields

- Kind: Institution
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- City: Durham, NC, US
- Type: cancer-center
- NCI designation: comprehensive
- Website: https://dukecancerinstitute.org

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Cancer_Institute
- Duke Cancer Institute: https://dukecancerinstitute.org
- Clinical trials: https://dukecancerinstitute.org/clinical-trials
- Tisch Brain Tumor Center: https://tischbraintumorcenter.duke.edu

## Connected records

- cancers: [Glioma & glioblastoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/glioblastoma/), [HER2-positive breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-her2-positive/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- technologies: [Oncolytic viruses](https://onco.cc/technologies/oncolytic-virus/)
- targets: [IDH1 / IDH2](https://onco.cc/targets/idh/)
- drugs: [Trastuzumab emtansine](https://onco.cc/drugs/trastuzumab-emtansine/)
- companies: [Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology](https://onco.cc/companies/alliance-oncology/)
- people: [Andrew J. Armstrong](https://onco.cc/people/andrew-armstrong/), [E. Shelley Hwang](https://onco.cc/people/shelley-hwang/), [John H. Strickler](https://onco.cc/people/john-strickler/), [Scott J. Antonia](https://onco.cc/people/scott-antonia/)
- bottlenecks: [The brain: barrier and sanctuary](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-brain-delivery/), [Trial design, endpoints and cost](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-trial-design/)
- institutions: [National Cancer Institute (NIH)](https://onco.cc/institutions/nci/)
- key papers: [Bao 2006: glioma stem cells resist radiotherapy by activating the DNA damage response](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-bao-glioma-stem-cells-radioresistance-nature-2006/)

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