The muscle-specific E3 ubiquitin ligase muscle ring finger 1 (MuRF1) mediates ubiquitination degradation of cytoskeletal and muscle contractile proteins, such as desmin (DES), myosin heavy chain 4 (MYH4), and troponin T3 (TNNT3), and knockdown of MuRF1 in KPC model slows down tumor growth and leads to the accumulation of metabolites, thereby inhibiting PDAC-induced muscle wasting (Neyroud et al., 2023). The gene discussed is DES; the disease is neoplasm.