HPCDb: an integrated database of pancreatic cancer

We have established a database of Human Pancreatic Cancer (HPCDb) through effectively mining, extracting, analyzing, and integrating PC-related genes, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and microRNAs (miRNAs), now available online at http://www.pancancer.org/. Data were extracted from established databases, ≥5 published literature (PubMed), and microarray chips (screening of differentially expressed genes using limma package in R, |log2 fold change (FC)| > 1). Further, protein-protein interactions (PPIs) were investigated through the Human Protein Reference Database. miRNA-target relationships were also identified using the online software TargetScan. Currently, HPCDb contains 3284 genes, 120 miRNAs, 589 SNPs, 10,139 PPIs, and 3904 miRNA-target pairs. The detailed information on PC-related genes (e.g., gene identifier (ID), symbol, synonyms, full name, chip sets, expression alteration, PubMed ID, and PPIs), miRNAs (e.g., accession number, chromosome location, related disease, PubMed ID, and miRNA-target interactions), and SNPs (e.g., SNP ID, allele, gene, PubMed ID, chromosome location, and disease) is presented through user-friendly query interfaces or convenient links to NCBI GEO, NCBI PubMed, NCBI Gene, NCBI dbSNP, and miRBase. Overall, HPCDb provides biologists with relevant information on human PC-related molecules at multiple levels, helping to generate new hypotheses or identify candidate markers.