ERN1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Since IMB-6G induced the phosphorylation of IRE1α (Figure 4A and 4B), and IRE1α silencing suppressed IMB-6G-induced HCC cell death and apoptosis (Figure 5B and 5C), we thus examined whether IMB-6G induces the activation of ASK1 and JNK through IRE1α in HCC cells.