HELLS and pancreatic neoplasm: To be more specific, the high mRNA levels of SMARCA1 (HR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.32–0.77, and P = 0.0015), SMARCA2 (HR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.37–0.85, and P = 0.0057), SMARCA3 (HR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.41–0.98, and P = 0.039) and SMARCAD1 (HR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.42–0.95, and P = 0.026) may contribute to favorable prognosis of pancreatic cancer (P < 0.05), while the mRNA expression of HELLS was negatively correlated with patients’ OS (HR = 1.77, 95% CI 1.09–2.86, and P = 0.019).