Genomic characterization of patient-derived xenograft models established from fine needle aspirate biopsies of a primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and from patient-matched metastatic sites

// Robert J. Allaway 1 * , Dawn A. Fischer 2 * , Francine B. de Abreu 3 , Timothy B. Gardner 4 , Stuart R. Gordon 4 , Richard J. Barth 2, 5 , Thomas A. Colacchio 2, 5 , Matthew Wood 1 ,9 , Balint Z. Kacsoh 6 , Stephanie J. Bouley 1 , Jingxuan Cui 6 , Joanna Hamilton 1, 7 , Jungbin A. Choi 1 , Joshua T. Lange 1 , Jason D. Peterson 3 , Vijayalakshmi Padmanabhan 3 , Craig R. Tomlinson 1, 5, 7 , Gregory J. Tsongalis 3, 5 , Arief A. Suriawinata 3 , Casey S. Greene 5, 6, 8 * , Yolanda Sanchez 1, 5 * , Kerrington D. Smith 2, 5 1 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA 2 Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA 3 Department of Pathology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA 4 Department of Medicine, Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA 5 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA 6 Department of Genetics, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03756, USA 7 Department of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA 8 Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA 9 Current location: Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Kerrington Smith, e-mail: kerrington.d.smith@hitchcock.org Keywords: patient-derived xenograft, fine needle aspirate biopsy, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, KRAS, CDK9 Received: July 03, 2015     Accepted: January 13, 2016     Published: February 25, 2016 ABSTRACT N-of-1 trials target actionable mutations, yet such approaches do not test genomically-informed therapies in patient tumor models prior to patient treatment. To address this, we developed patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models from fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies (FNA-PDX) obtained from primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) at the time of diagnosis. Here, we characterize PDX models established from one primary and two metastatic sites of one patient. We identified an activating KRAS G12R mutation among other mutations in these models. In explant cells derived from these PDX tumor models with a KRAS G12R mutation, treatment with inhibitors of CDKs (including CDK9) reduced phosphorylation of a marker of CDK9 activity (phospho-RNAPII CTD Ser2/5) and reduced viability/growth of explant cells derived from PDAC PDX models. Similarly, a CDK inhibitor reduced phospho-RNAPII CTD Ser2/5, increased apoptosis, and inhibited tumor growth in FNA-PDX and patient-matched metastatic-PDX models. In summary, PDX models can be constructed from FNA biopsies of PDAC which in turn can enable genomic characterization and identification of potential therapies.