Among the five TFs identified, activation of SMAD3 and inhibition of SMAD7 may together indicate a possible activation of TGF-beta signaling, which is known to play a dual role as both pro-tumorigenic and tumor-suppressive in pancreatic cancer, depending on tumor stage and microenvironment (Shen et al., 2017). Here, SMAD3 is linked to pancreatic neoplasm.