Of note, beyond pancreatic cancer, an essential role of JNK has been documented in K-Ras-induced lung tumor development [53], which points to the possibility that the role of the K-Ras - JNK axis in the control of CSCs/CSLCs may not be unique to pancreatic cancer but may be shared by other human cancers. This evidence concerns the gene MAPK8 and familial pancreatic carcinoma.