To test the hypothesis that stroma components are synthesised and produced by the tumour cells themselves, eight cell lines as well as six xenografted tumours from human ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas were examined for the expression of extracellular matrix proteins (ECM), using cDNA probes and antibodies to collagen types I, III and IV, vitronectin, fibronectin, undulin and laminin. This evidence concerns the gene FN1 and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.