- In close collaboration with the department of pathology, we have stored snap-frozen tissue samples from surgically resected human pancreatic cancer for future research. Clinical, histopathological, and survival data of over 200 patients are registered in our database. Tissue samples (primary and metastases) from the current study will be analysed together with available 96 primary tumour samples that have already been controlled to be representative for high quality RNA studies. These samples are obtained from patients with early and advanced localized pancreatic cancer in various tumour stages. Gene-expression studies will be performed using Affymetrix HG U133 Plus 2.0 arrays on primary and metastatic tissue samples. These experiments will be conducted in close collaboration with the microarray facility of VIB at KUL.