DDIT3 and neoplasm: A previous investigation showed that DDIT3 is a key transcriptional factor that induces the apoptotic pathway [21, 22] by binding the promoter of death receptors (DRs), including DR4 and DR5, to induce apoptosis through the BAX-BAK-mediated mitochondrial pathways [23], thus illustrating that the anti-tumor effect of ferrichrome is mediated by the induction of DDTI3 in cancer cells.