Next, we assessed the proliferation capacity of cells bearing either individual or compound depletion of MTA2 and PTEN. As shown in Fig. 5a–c, inhibition of PTEN could significantly eliminate the blunted proliferation capacity of MTA2-deficient cells, suggesting that MTA2 affected the PDAC cell proliferation and PDAC xenograft tumor growth via a PTEN-mediated mechanism. Here, PTEN is linked to neoplasm.