Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2025; 31(26): 109500
Published online Jul 14, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i26.109500
Figure 1
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Figure 1 Characterization of serum exosomes. A: Transmission electron microscopy image showing the typical cup-shaped morphology of exosomes (orange arrow); B: Nanoparticle tracking analysis illustrating particle size distribution; C: Western blot results showing the expression of exosomal markers.
Figure 2
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Figure 2 Differential expression analysis of serum exosomal microRNAs. A: Volcano plot depicting significantly upregulated and downregulated microRNAs; B: Heatmap of hierarchical clustering analysis of differentially expressed microRNAs.
Figure 3
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Figure 3 Validation of hsa-let-7f-5p expression by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. A: Amplification curve of hsa-let-7f-5p from transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis; B: Validation results showing the relative expression of serum exosomal hsa-let-7f-5p in patients with metastatic and non-metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Figure 4
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Figure 4 Bioinformatic prediction and functional annotation of hsa-let-7f-5p target genes. A: Predicted target genes of hsa-let-7f-5p identified using miRDB, miWalk, miRTarBase, and TargetScan; B: Gene Ontology functional enrichment analysis of predicted target genes. GO: Gene Ontology.
Figure 5
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Figure 5 Representative computed tomography and pathological findings in patients with pancreatic cancer. A and B: A 64-year-old male with pancreatic head cancer (white arrow), lesion size approximately 4.38 cm in diameter, showing no evidence of vascular invasion or lymph node metastasis; C: Pathological section at 100 × magnification shows tumor cells scattered singly within fibrous connective tissue. TNM stage: T3N0M0 (stage IIA); D and E: A 68-year-old male with pancreatic head cancer (white arrow), lesion size approximately 4.0 cm in diameter, with a ring-enhancing metastatic lesion in the right liver lobe (orange arrow) and an enlarged gallbladder (orange arrowhead); F: Pathological section at 100 × magnification shows metastatic adenocarcinoma within trabecular liver tissue, characterized by atypical glandular structures and scattered tumor cells. TNM stage: T2NxM1 (stage IV); G: Serum exosomal hsa-let-7f-5p expression levels in patients with localized pancreatic cancer and those with metastasis were 09768 and 1.8632, respectively.