PDX1 and pancreatic adenocarcinoma: To further confirm whether the high levels of apelin in plasma could come from tumors, we used the murine orthotopic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) model FC1199 derived from tumors arisen in LSL-KrasG12D/+;LSL-Trp53R172H/+;Pdx-1-Cre mice described to induce cachexia in mice [48,49].