Given its prominent role in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process and cell migration at late stages of PDAC (Massague, 2008; David et al, 2016), a model that arises from previous studies is that TGF-β might exacerbate PDAC progression by fostering the invasive behaviors of cancer cells, thereby leading to widespread metastasis and general organ dysfunction. Here, TGFB1 is linked to cancer.