GEPIA database analysis

The Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA, http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn/about.html) database is a newly developed interactive web server for analyzing RNA sequencing expression data of tumors and normal tissues obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genoytype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases. GEPIA now contains a total of 9,736 tumors and 8,587 normal samples (14). The GEPIA database was used to validate the expression levels of significant DEGs in PC. Cut-off criteria were determined as P<0.05 and |log₂FC| >1. GEPIA was also used to identify the relationship between DEGs expressing levels and PC patients’ pathological stages and overall survival. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.