In line with this hypothesis, measurement of the membrane-associated mucins MUC1, MUC3, MUC4, MUC12, MUC13, MUC15 and MUC16 (ref. 17) showed that MUC1 and MUC13 are expressed at high levels in pancreatic tumour cells (Extended Data Fig. 3a). This evidence concerns the gene MUC15 and pancreatic neoplasm.