Two novel aspects of our study are that we 1) examined tumor and patient survival characteristics based on histological presence or absence of ERCC1 in the nuclei of tumor cells, and 2) our patient cohort consisted of individuals from Quanzhou, Fujian Province, in southeastern China, an understudied region concerning genetic variation association with ESCC and treatment response outcomes (Figure S1). The gene discussed is ERCC1; the disease is neoplasm.