To date current therapies of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) are largely ineffective. The induction of apoptosis by an unresolvable unfolded protein response (UPR) represents a potential new therapeutic strategy. Here we tested 12ADT, a sarcoendoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ Atpase (SeRcA) inhibitor, on a panel of unselected patient-derived neurosphere-forming cells and found that GBM cells can be distinguished into "responder" and "non-responder". By RNASeq analysis we found that the nonresponder phenotype is significantly linked with the expression of UPR genes, and in particular ERN1 (IRE1) and ATF4. We also identified two additional genes selectively overexpressed among nonresponders, IGFBP3 and IGFBP5. CRISPR-mediated deletion of the ERN1, IGFBP3, IGFBP5 signature genes in the U251 human GBM cell line increased responsiveness to 12ADT. Remarkably, >65% of GBM cases in The Cancer Genome Atlas express the non-responder (ERN1, IGFBP3, IGFBP5) gene signature. Thus, elevated levels of IRE1α and IGFBPs predict a poor response to drugs inducing unresolvable UPR and possibly other forms of chemotherapy helping in a better stratification GBM patients. Glioblastoma (GBM) is a devastating, rapidly fatal disease whose survival rate has not improved much in recent years relative to other tissues. With the current standard of care for newly diagnosed GBM of surgical resection followed by temozolomide and radiotherapy, the expected median survival remains under two years 1. This inadequacy leaves open the necessity for novel therapeutic approaches targeting the signaling programs GBM cells rely on to acquire chemoresistance and survive in the face of various challenges in the tumor microenvironment, e.g., hypoxia, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy (temozolomide). In mammalian cells the unfolded protein response (UPR) represents a powerful homeostatic signaling mechanism and an adaptive cellular response to the accumulation of mis-or unfolded protein within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) 2. This homeostatic mechanism regulates the balance between cell survival and apoptosis such that if adaptation/restoration to proteostasis fails, the apoptotic program is activated 2. This evolutionarily conserved signaling complex is mediated by three initiator/sensor ER transmembrane molecules: inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1α), PKR-like ER kinase (PERK), and activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6), which, in the unstressed state, are maintained in an inactive state through association with 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78) 3. Upon activation of the UPR, PERK phosphorylates eIF2α, resulting in the selective inhibition of translation. Contextually, IRE1α autophosphorylates to activate its endonuclease domain, resulting in the cleavage of Xbp-1 to generate a spliced Xbp-1 isoform (Xbp-1s), which drives the production of various ER chaperones to restore ER homeostasis. IRE1α's RNase domain can also cause endonucleolytic decay of many ER-localized mRNAs