Fig. 1

CDK1 played an important role in cancer stem cell properties in PDAC cells. a The overall and disease free survival analysis of patients with PDAC from GEPIA database (http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn/). Patients with low levels of CDK1 have a better prognosis. Data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 89). b Expression of CDK1 was higher in pancreatic cancer than in tumor-adjacent tissue. T, tumor; N, tumor-adjacent tissue. *P < 0.05. c, d KEGG and GO enrichment analyses of differential genes in gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells (GSE80617). e Relative mRNA expression of CDK1 in normal and gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells (GSE80617). f Western blot analysis showed that the expression of pancreatic CSC markers CD44 and Sox2 were significantly decreased after CDK1 silencing in pancreatic cancer cell lines. siNC: negative control; si1-3: silencing 1–3. g Representative flow cytometry plots for CD44 and CD24 expression in pancreatic cancer PANC-1 and HPC-Y5 cells with CDK1 silencing. h Statistical plot of ratio of CD44+/CD24+ positive cells in control or CDK1 silencing PANC-1 and HPC-Y5 cells. Data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 3); *P < 0.05. Con: Control, CDK1si: CDK1 silencing. i, j Sphere formation assay was used to determine the effect of CDK1 silencing for pancreatic cancer stemness. Scale bars, 100 μm. Data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 6). **P < 0.01