Although it has been reported that GNA triggers ER stress-mediated apoptosis through the reactive oxygen species/IRE1α/c-Jun N-terminal kinase signalling pathway in CRC (Zhao et al., 2020) and triggers apoptosis via heavy chain-binding protein (Bip), ATF4 and C/EBP-homologous protein (Chop) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (Su et al., 2019), the mechanism of GNA-induced ER stress is still incomplete. Here, DDIT3 is linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma.