The importance of lipid desaturation for the maintenance of normal cellular function was also demonstrated by the observation that inhibition of SCD in cancer cells induces ER stress, leading to induction ofthe DNA-damage-inducible transcript 3 (DDIT3/CHOP) and cell death, Moreover, depletion of SREBP from retinal pigment epithelial cells cultured in the absence of exogenous lipids caused ER stress and blocked the induction of protein biosynthesis by Akt activation