AXL	Is a member of the TAM (Tyro3, Axl, MerTK) receptor tyrosine kinase family. It has been found to drive metastasis and cause immune suppression in different cancers including PDAC.
CAFs	Cancer-associated fibroblasts. It can promote tumorigenic features by initiating the remodeling of the extracellular matrix by secreting cytokines.
ERK	MEK–extracellular signal-regulated kinase.
FoxM1	Fork-head box M1.
GAS6	Growth arrest-specific gene 6 (GAS6). It has an important role in the stimulation of cell proliferation.
IGF-1	Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), is a hormone that plays an important role in childhood growth. Through inhibition of apoptosis, IGF-1 has been shown to promote cancer development.
INK4a–ARF	Inhibitors of CDK4 (INK4). The INK4a–ARF locus on chromosome 9 is one of the sites mutated most frequently in human cancer. Two genes comprising over-lapping reading frames encoding p16 (INK4a) and p19 (ARF) have been discovered at this locus, and remarkably, both play an important role in regulating cell growth, survival, and senescence.
KRAS	Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS) gene: A gene that makes a protein that is involved in cell signaling pathways that control cell growth, cell maturation, and cell death. The natural, unchanged form of the gene is called wild-type KRAS. Mutated (changed) forms of the KRAS gene have been found in some types of cancer, including non-small-cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer. These changes may cause cancer cells to grow and spread in the body.
MAPK	mitogen-activated protein kinase.
MEK	MAPK kinase.
MHC	The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a large locus on vertebrate DNA containing a set of closely linked polymorphic genes that code for cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system. PDAC cells show a reduced expression of MHC-Class1 on their cell surface.
mTOR	mechanistic target of rapamycin.
MUC4	Mucin4 is a large membrane-anchored glycoprotein that belongs to the mucin family. They play an important role in the protection of epithelial cells. Its overexpression has been seen in many types of carcinomas.
NF-κB	Nuclear factor- κB.
PI3K	phosphoinositide 3-kinase.
PPP	pentose phosphate pathway.
RAF	rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma.
SHH	Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), is one of the hedgehog pathways that play an important role in the regulation of embryonic development. It has been found to play an important role in tumor initiation and invasiveness.
SMAD4	Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog4 (SMAD4), also called DPC4, is an Intra-cellular messenger of TGF-β and shows an anti-tumor effect by inhibiting the cell growth.
TCA	tricarboxylic acid.
VDR	Vitamin D receptor.