Deciphering the underlying genetic basis behind pancreatic cancer PC and its associated multimorbidities will enhance our knowledge towards PC control. The study investigated the common genetic background of PC and different morbidities through a computational approach and further evaluated the less explored association between PC and autoimmune diseases AIDs through an epidemiological analysis. Gene-disease associations GDAs of 26 morbidities of interest and PC were obtained using the DisGeNET public discovery platform. The association between AIDs and PC pointed by the computational analysis was confirmed through multivariable logistic regression models in the PanGen European case-control study population of 1,705 PC cases and 1,084 controls. Fifteen morbidities shared at least one gene with PC in the DisGeNET database. Based on common genes, several AIDs were genetically associated with PC pointing to a potential link between them. An epidemiologic analysis confirmed that having any of the nine AIDs studied was significantly associated with a reduced risk of PC Odds Ratio OR=0.74, 95% Confidence Interval CI 0.58-0.93 which decreased in subjects having >2 AIDs OR=0.39, 95%CI 0.21-0.73. In independent analyses, polymyalgia rheumatica and rheumatoid arthritis were significantly associated with low PC risk OR=0.40, 95%CI 0.19-0.89, and OR=0.73, 95%CI 0.53-1.00, respectively. Several inflammatory-related morbidities shared a common genetic component with PC based on public databases. These molecular links could shed light into the molecular mechanisms underlying PC development and simultaneously generate novel hypotheses. In this study, we report sound findings pointing to an association between AIDs and a reduced risk of PC. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 8. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 12 July 2025.
All research outputs
#6,427,996
of 34,492,055 outputs
Outputs from International Journal of Cancer
#4,090
of 14,870 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#88,955
of 393,091 outputs
Outputs of similar age from International Journal of Cancer
#57
of 213 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,492,055 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 81st percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 14,870 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.6. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 393,091 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 213 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its contemporaries.
