These findings reflect the dichotomous stimulating and inhibiting roles of tumor stroma in pancreatic cancer: consistent with previous reports [25, 26], our data show a tendancy that tumor-adjacent stroma is the major source of several pro-angiogenic cytokines and MMPs (e.g. HGF, MMP-2, and G-CSF). Here, CSF3 is linked to pancreatic neoplasm.