Transcriptome analysis of pancreatic cancer patients with low and high metabolic tumor volume (MTV)

Transcriptome wide-comparison between MTV-low and -high groups was performed with three types: 1) cancer to normal site ratio, cancer site, and normal site. Among three types of comparison, the cancer-to-normal site ratio was the most informative. 211 genes were generally upregulated, and 166 genes were downregulated in the MTV-high group compared to the MTV-low group. Of 211 upregulated gens, 44 showed more than a 2-fold difference and statistical significance. On the other hand, of 166 downregulated genes, 56 showed more than a 2-fold difference and statistical significance. In functional annotation analysis, the GO terms of the upregulated genes were enriched to Wnt signaling (GO: 0035567, 0060070, 0060071), sister chromatid cohesion (GO: 0007062), and cell division (GO: 0000278, 0051301) trends (Figure 1E-a), whereas those of the downregulated genes were enriched to rRNA processing (GO: 0006364), translation (GO: 0006412, 0006413), nuclear-transcribed mRNA catabolic process (GO: 0000184) trends (Figure 1E-b). 28 upregulated genes belonged to Wnt signaling or Cell division, while 22 downregulated genes belonged to rRNA processing. Overall design: Pancreatic cancer patients were classified into low MTV and high MTV groups by 18F-FDG PET/CT scan, and their post-resected tissues were used for total RNA-Seq.