Pancreatic ductal
adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most malignant
cancers and has an extremely undesirable prognosis because little is known about the initiation and progression mechanisms of
pancreatic cancer. The lack of an appropriate research model may have hindered this process. Using LSL-Kras G12D/+ ; Trp53 fl/+ ; Pdx1-Cre (KPC) mice and the
tumor tissue fragment
transplantation technique, we constructed the mouse-derived subcutaneous/orthotopic allograft
tumor models (MDAs-ST/OT). H&E staining, Masson staining and immunohistochemical staining were adopted to describe the histopathology and
biomarkers of the MDAs and the recruitment of immune cells. The intervention of
gemcitabine was applied to measure the chemotherapeutic response of MDAs
tumors. MDAs could mimic the pathological histology and the high proliferation characteristics of PDAC. Indeed, the
fibrosis, epithelial-mesenchyme transition (EMT) and invasion/
metastasis related markers of MDAs were similar to those observed in
pancreatic cancer. Further, the recruitment of immune cells in PDAC was precisely simulated by MDAs. In addition,
gemcitabine suppressed the
tumor growth of MDAs-ST significantly. MDAs are an effective model for investigating the progression and treatment of
pancreatic cancer.