These results are consistent with previous studies reporting that anethole was considered as an interesting anti-cancer molecule for gastric cancer treatment by reduction of adenocarcinoma cells, triggering apoptosis and arresting cell cycle through mitochondrial pathways and the down-regulation of an oncogene, such as cyclin D1, known to be the downstream effector of the RAS/MEK/ERK pathway12,26. Here, MAP2K7 is linked to cancer.