Cancer stem cells (CSCs) share common biological characteristics with adult stem cells, such as lifespan, self-renewal ability, differentiation, and drug resistance, which play a decisive role in cancer progression [23]. Some studies have found that pancreatic cancer stem cells are highly drug-resistant cells that preferentially drive tumorigenesis and development, and these are associated with poor prognosis of PAAD patients [24]. The results showed that the expression of YOD1 was positively correlated with mRNAsi, R = 0.26 (P = 0.00014) (Fig. 5F). This evidence concerns the gene YOD1 and cancer.