2.3. Apoptosis assay

Pancreatic cancer (PC) cell apoptosis was assessed using flow cytometry with an Annexin V‐FITC/7‐AAD apoptosis detection kit purchased from Becton Dickinson and Company (BD) (Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The preprocessing of the PC cells was performed as previously described.35 Then, the percentage of apoptotic cells was quantified by flow cytometry using a FACSCalibur flow cytometer (BD Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA). The total apoptosis rate was assessed by adding the rates of the Annexin V‐FITC+/7‐AAD‐ (early apoptotic cells) and Annexin V‐FITC+/7‐AAD+ (late apoptotic cells) populations together.