Pancreatic cancer xenograft tumor RNA sequencing and pathologic differentiation of matched human tumors.

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in pancreatic cancer is believed to correlate with metastatic probability and aggressiveness. In the clinical setting, tumor staging and grading reflect tumor aggressiveness, tumor invasion, and gross metastasis and are used to guide treatment options. These data were analyzed to correlate commonly used laboratory RNA sequencing analysis with clinically defined differentiation status. This dataset provides evidence that mesenchymal genes are enriched in xenograft tumors from poorly differentiated human tumors. Human PDACs were resected and orthotopically implanted and propagated in immunocompromised mice. Tumors were then extracted, and RNA sequencing was performed. Tumors were analyzed for gene expression (via RNA-seq) and tumor grading (differentiation status).