Successful application of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy to establish pancreatic patient-derived tumor xenografts: a pilot study.

Typically, pancreatic patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDXs) are established by transplanting large tumor biopsies obtained through invasive surgery approaches into immunocompromised mice. We aimed to develop pancreatic PDXs by transplanting tumor tissue acquired by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine needle biopsies (FNB), assess take rates compared to surgery-derived PDXs, and demonstrate the histological and genetic resemblance to the original tumor. Biopsies of untreated pancreatic carcinoma were collected at surgery and during EUS and processed to generate PDXs.