A new primary pancreatic cancer cell line, JoPaca-1, was sequenced together with the established cell line BxPC-3. Relevant SNPs in pancreatic cancer were analized and are described in the paper.

Standard cancer cell lines do not model the intratumoural heterogeneity situation sufficiently. Clonal selection leads to a homogeneous population of cells by genetic drift. Heterogeneity of tumour cells, however, is particularly critical for therapeutically relevant studies, since it is a prerequisite for acquiring drug resistance and reoccurrence of tumours. Here, we report the isolation of a highly tumourigenic primary pancreatic cancer cell line, called JoPaca-1 and its detailed characterization at numerous levels. Implantation of as few as 100 JoPaca-1 cells into NOD/SCID/? mice gave rise to tumours that were histologically very similar to the primary tumour. The high heterogeneity of JoPaca-1 was reflected by diverse cell morphology and a substantial number of chromosomal aberrations. Comparative whole-genome sequencing of JoPaca-1 and BxPC-3 revealed mutations in genes frequently altered in pancreatic cancer. Exceptionally high expression of cancer stem cell markers and a high clonogenic potential in vitro and in vivo was observed. All this makes this cell line an extremely valuable model to study the biology of and pharmaceutical effects on pancreatic cancer.