CHEK1 and cancer: Because targeting ATR has emerged as a new area of research for cancer treatment (Fokas et al., 2012; Karnitz and Zou, 2015; Bradbury et al., 2020), it is reasonable to investigate and explore innovative therapy via targeting the ATR-Chk1 DDR pathway’s regulatory mechanisms to increase efficacy and/or reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs in pancreatic cancer treatment.