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Updated: May 26, 2026
Reprogramming Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma to Pluripotency
Published on: February 2, 2024
Clinical and prognostic implications of KRT19 expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Hyung Jun An1, Kwang Bum Cho1, Kyung In Shin1
1Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Background:
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive malignancy with poor survival rate. Keratin 19 (KRT19) has been suggested as a potential biomarker for various cancers, including PDAC. This study investigated the prognostic role of KRT19 expression in PDAC using publicly available datasets and bioinformatics analyses.
Methods:
Gene expression data for KRT19 in PDAC were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets (GSE15471, GSE22780) and The Cancer Genome Atlas-Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (TCGA-PAAD) cohort. KRT19 expression levels were compared between tumor and normal tissues. Survival analysis was performed based on KRT19 expression levels, and its association with clinical parameters was evaluated.
Results:
KRT19 expression was significantly higher in tumor tissues than in normal tissues (P<0.001). Higher KRT19 expression correlated with advanced tumor grade (P<0.001). Patients with higher KRT19 expression had lower overall survival [hazards ratio (HR) =1.795; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.182-2.727, P=0.005]. KRT19 expression was significantly associated with TP53 and KRAS mutations, negatively affecting patient survival (P<0.001, P=0.02, respectively), which was confirmed by multivariate analysis (HR =1.665, 95% CI: 1.227-2.257, P=0.001).
Conclusions:
Elevated KRT19 expression is associated with a poor prognosis in PDAC and correlates with more aggressive tumor features. These findings suggest that KRT19 could serve as a valuable prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target in PDAC.
