DDIT3 and breast cancer: Matrine induced apoptosis in breast cancer ER-7-positive MCF-7 cells via two main pathways: firstly, matrine enhanced the levels of GRP78, eIF2α, and CHOP, activating ERS and facilitating apoptosis; secondly, matrine downregulated the expression of intracellular hexokinase-II, reduced mitochondrial ATP production and inhibited energy metabolism, thus promoting apoptosis (Xiao et al., 2017).