POU5F1 and familial pancreatic carcinoma: Increased expression of OCT4 has been reported to be associated with the differentiation of pancreatic cancer, while OCT4 knockdown inhibits the invasion and growth of pancreatic cancer cell by inhibiting AKT pathway mediated proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) expression (31).