Identifying molecular subtypes related to clinicopathologic factors in pancreatic cancer

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal tumors and usually presented with locally advanced and distant metastasis disease, which prevent curative resection or treatments. In this regard, we considered identifying molecular subtypes associated with clinicopathological factor as prognosis factors to stratify PDAC for appropriate treatment of patients. RESULTS: In this study, we identified three molecular subtypes which were significant on survival time and metastasis. We also identified significant genes and enriched pathways represented for each molecular subtype. Considering R0 resection patients included in each subtype, metastasis and survival times are significantly associated with subtype 1 and subtype 2. CONCLUSIONS: We observed three PDAC molecular subtypes and demonstrated that those subtypes were significantly related with metastasis and survival time. The study may have utility in stratifying patients for cancer treatment.