Using P = 0.10 as the cut-off value, eight factors (tumor location, tumor differentiation, TNM stage, serum carbohydrate antigen [CA]19-9, serum CA50, serum carcinoembryonic antigen, MUC4 expression, and MUC4/Y expression) were selected from the univariate analysis data (Table 2) for forward or backward stepwise multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis (Table 3). The gene discussed is MUC4; the disease is neoplasm.