ROR2 Regulates Cellular Plasticity in Pancreatic Neoplasia and Adenocarcinoma

Cellular plasticity is a hallmark of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) starting from the conversion of normal cells into precancerous lesions, to the progression of carcinoma subtypes associated with aggressiveness and therapeutic response. We discovered that normal acinar cell differentiation, maintained by the transcription factor PDX1, suppresses a broad gastric cell identity that is maintained in metaplasia, neoplasia, and the classical subtype of PDAC in a mouse and human. We identified the receptor tyrosine kinase ROR2 as marker of a gastric metaplasia-like identity in pancreas neoplasms. Ablation of Ror2 in a mouse model of pancreatic tumorigenesis promoted a switch to a gastric pit cell identity that largely persisted through progression to the classical subtype of PDAC. In both human and mouse pancreatic cancer, ROR2 activity continued to antagonize the gastric pit cell identity, strongly promoting an epithelial to mesenchymal transition, conferring resistance to KRAS inhibition, and vulnerability to AKT inhibition. Significance: We discovered the receptor tyrosine kinase ROR2 as an important regulator of cellular identity in pancreatic precancerous lesions and pancreatic cancer. ROR2 drives an aggressive PDAC phenotype and confers resistance to KRAS inhibitors, suggesting that targeting ROR2 will enhance sensitivity to this new generation of targeted therapies. See related commentary by Marasco and Misale, p. 2018.