We have previously examined the expression profiles of MUC4 in primary tumours of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma-mass forming type (n=27; Shibahara et al, 2004), pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n=135) (Shibahara et al, 2004; Saitou et al, 2005; Tamada et al, 2006; Tsutsumida et al, 2007), extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma (n=70; Tamada et al, 2006) and small-sized lung adenocarcinoma (less than 3 cm; n=185; Tsutsumida et al, 2007) and compared MUC4 expression with the survival of the patients. Here, MUC4 is linked to pancreatic adenocarcinoma.