SERPINB5 and neoplasm: The reported data with oral squamous cell carcinoma [20], [34] share the following important similarities with our current study with ESCC: (i) both studies were conducted with surgically resected early stage tumor specimens; (ii) in both cases, maspin protein was detected in almost all tumor cells, and was overexpressed in some tumor cells; (iii) maspin protein was detected in both the nucleus and cytoplasm; and (iv) the overall maspin expression levels correlated with better survival of the patients.