ADRA2A is a suppressor of the basal-like/squamous subtype and reduces disease aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a heterogeneous disease and consists of distinct subtypes. Here, we investigated candidate suppressor genes of the basal-like/squamous subtype, a more aggressive molecular subtype of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Through an integrated transcriptome analysis, we identified the ADRA2A, as being downregulated in the basal-like/squamous PDAC using a discovery and validation approach. ADRA2A downregulation is associated with decreased patient survival. The goal of this study was to identify ADRA2A-induced molecular signatures in PDAC. RNA was isolated from human PDAC cell lines (CFPAC-1 with empty vector control; n = 4, CFPAC-1 with ADRA2A transgene overexpression; n = 4) using TRIzol method. The mRNA profiles of the human PDAC cell lines were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina NextSeq.