Yan, M. et al. demonstrated that knockout of the NR3C1 gene activates endoplasmic reticulum stress and affects cell division and migration of renal clear cell carcinoma through the ATF6-PINK1/BNIP3 pathway, providing a novel biological target for clinical treatment of chronic renal cell carcinoma (Yan et al., 2023). The gene discussed is ATF6; the disease is clear cell renal carcinoma.