HOXB8 and neoplasm: Our expression analysis showed that, although abundant expression was observed in embryonic mesenchymal cells, HOXB6 was predominantly expressed in malignant ductal cells in PDAC while HOXB8 expression was limited to few cells during pancreas development and expression was virtually absent in adult pancreas but initiated in PDAC ductal cells suggesting that upregulation of these genes contribute to tumor formation.