Genetic or pharmacological inactivation of ROBO3/AXL/p-STAT3 signaling through CRISPR/dCas9 technology or administration of BGB324, a clinical stage AXL inhibitor, reduced ascites as well as liver metastases in vivo and restored chemosensitivity in vitro in BL subtype-specific PDAC. Here, ROBO3 is linked to Burkitt lymphoma.