Establishment, characterization, and biobanking of 36 pancreatic cancer organoids: prediction of metastasis in resectable pancreatic cancer

Purpose Early dissemination of primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the main cause of dismal prognosis as it highly limits possible treatment options. A number of PDAC patients experience distant metastasis even after treatment due to the metastatic clones. We aimed to demonstrate the molecular architecture of borderline resectable PDAC manifests cancer dissemination of PDAC. Methods Here, 36 organoids isolated from primary tumor masses of PDAC patients with diverse metastatic statues are presented. Whole-exome sequencing and RNA sequencing were performed and drug responses to clinically relevant 18 compounds were assessed. Results Our results revealed that borderline resectable PDAC organoids exhibited distinct patterns according to their metastatic potency highlighted by multiple genetic and transcriptional factors and strong variances in drug responses. Conclusions These data suggest that the presence of metastatic PDAC can be identified by integrating molecular compositions and drug responses of borderline resectable PDAC.