As shown in Fig. 1f, the 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) in ESCC patients with high/moderate expression of ANGPTL4 protein was inferior to that with low/negative expression [mean 16.7 months (95 % CI 14.510–18.839) vs. 20.1 months (95 % CI 18.340–21.946), P = 0.028]. Here, ANGPTL4 is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.