Background: This study aimed to explore whether dihydroartemisinin (DHA), an artemisinin derivate drug, eliminates primary liver cancer (PLC) cells by inducing ferroptosis. Methods: Four PLC cell lines were treated with varied concentrations of DHA. RNA interference was performed to knock down the expression of unfolded protein response (UPR) sensors in vitro. Results: DHA-caused PLC cell death was irrelevant to p53 status. PLC cells exposed to DHA displayed classic ferroptosis features – increased lipid ROS, MDA and iron ions, and decreased activity or expression of GSH, GPX4, SLC7A11 and SLC3A2. The anti-tumor effects of DHA were significantly weakened by ferrostatin-1 and deferoxamine mesylate salt, but augmented by iron overload. DHA activated all three UPR branches, including PERK/eIF2/ATF4, IRE1α / XBP1 , and ATF6, in vitro . Further, to deactivate UPRs, exclusive siRNA was used to silence the expression of ATF4, XBP1 or ATF6 in PLC cells. Unexpectedly, ferroptosis induced by DHA was significantly attenuated when ATF4, XBP1 or ATF6 was knocked down. The transcription of CHAC1, a molecule that is capable of degrading GSH, was enhanced by DHA, but weakened when the above three UPR transcription factors were silenced.Conclusion: DHA effectively induces ferroptosis in PLC cells, which involves the activation of anti-survival UPRs.