The important mechanisms of herbal medicines in inducing apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells include death receptors mediated apoptotic pathway, mitochondrial dependent apoptotic pathway, NF-κB mediated apoptotic pathways, MAPK mediated apoptotic pathway, ERS mediated apoptotic pathway, PI3K-Akt mediated apoptotic pathway, and other reported pathways such as JAK-STAT signal pathway. This evidence concerns the gene AKT1 and familial pancreatic carcinoma.