Astragaloside (100 nmol/L) significantly upregulated the protein expression of the ERS factor BiP in prostate cancer DU145 cells and promoted ERS-mediated protein expression of IRE1, p-PERK and AFT6 without affecting the total level of PERK, thereby activating AFT4, CHOP and caspase-12-related apoptotic pathways and inducing apoptosis in prostate cancer cells (Tan et al., 2018). The gene discussed is CASP12; the disease is prostate cancer.