Shown here, human pancreatic cancer cells were strikingly different from colon and breast cancer in that re-introduction of autocrine CXCL12 expression decreased the growth and migration potential in vitro, while concomitantly decreasing growth and metastasis of PDAC cells in vivo.In contrast, there was minimal change in anoikis-sensitivity of CXCL12-expressing PDAC cells. Here, CXCL12 is linked to familial pancreatic carcinoma.