Fig. 1

The clinical trial profile and treatment schedule. a The clinical trial profile. A total of 176 PDAC patients from 12 countries were screened for enrollment, of which 70 (39.8%) were assessed for LAPC. During screening, five participants were excluded because of compromised liver function (n = 2), severe coronary disease (n = 1), allergy to contrast media (n = 1), and chemotherapy or radiation therapy ≤6 week (n = 1). After systemic therapy, three participants were excluded because of downstaging to resection (n = 2) and withdrew consent (n = 1). Overall, the LAPC patients were screened for the eligibility criteria, and 62 (35.2%) were finally enrolled in the study and assigned randomly to group A (n = 30) or group B (n = 32). b Clinical treatment schedule. Patients in group A received IRE plus one to three courses of allogeneic γδ T cells; one γδ T-cell treatment course was designed to contain two cycles, totaling six γδ T-cell infusions in 28 days, i.e., days 12, 13, and 14 for the first cycle and days 26, 27, and 28 for the second cycle. Patients in group B just received IRE (n = 62)