Total RNA was extracted using Trizol reagent (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) per manufacturer’s protocol. cDNA was synthesized using the High Capacity cDNA Reverse Transcription Kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) and target expression was assessed using available probes, reagents, and the StepOnePlus Real-Time PCR System from Applied Biosystems, as performed previously13. Target expression (2−ΔΔCT) was normalized to endogenous reference (18S or β-actin) and reported relative to control samples. Each QPCR experiment was performed a minimum of three times and consistent trends across biologically replicated experiments were observed. The representative experiments shown in most figures are from experiments that generally best reflected the average QPCR data of these three experiments. We chose representative data over averaging the individual experiments together since significant variability often existed between experiments. This variability occurred because of the amplification of small differences present in the mRNA when values of one of the conditions are exceptionally low (as we see in the Panc-2G6 cells with AREG and EREG expression). The exceptions are data from Figs 4B,H and 5F, which showed less inter-experimental variability and were averaged in order to demonstrate significance of the findings.