The involvement of the Smad3/TGFβ signaling pathway during pancreatic tumor progression was confirmed by real-time PCR, showing a significant increase (P<0.005) in mCherry mRNA levels in Tg(ptf1a:Gal4)/UAS:eGFP-KRASG12D compared with the control (Fig. 6A). This evidence concerns the gene PTF1A and pancreatic neoplasm.