Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, July 3 (Reporter Qian Zheng) pancreatic cancer is known as the "king of cancer". Hokkaido University recently released a press release saying that its researchers have found two targets for pancreatic cancer treatment through animal experiments. This discovery is expected to help the medical community understand the development process of pancreatic cancer and develop therapeutic drugs. Researchers from Hokkaido University have bred a fruit fly, which reproduces four gene abnormalities observed in patients with pancreatic cancer, namely, the activation of the cancer gene KRAS and the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes TP53, CDKN2A and SMAD4. Subsequently, researchers conducted extensive genetic screening using this fruit fly to identify two therapeutic targets, MEK and AURKB. MEK and AURKB are both kinases responsible for intracellular and intercellular information transmission. MEK is involved in various signaling pathways that control cell proliferation, differentiation, and death. AURKB regulates accurate separation of chromosomes and cytoplasm during cell division. The researchers further found that the combination of MEK inhibitor trimetinib and AURKB inhibitor BI-831266 can improve the survival rate of Drosophila melanogaster with pancreatic cancer. The researchers subcutaneously transplanted human pancreatic cancer cells into experimental mice. The Scientific control showed that the combination of trimetinib and BI-831266 could significantly inhibit the growth of pancreatic cancer tumor compared with the single administration. The bulletin said that this study shows that trimetinib and BI-831266 may be effective for patients with pancreatic cancer, and researchers are exploring relevant clinical research. The research paper was recently published in the online edition of the American Journal of Cancer Research.