Importantly, the analysis of ESCC genomes reveals that mechanisms previously suspected to have a role in the biology of ESCC [15–17, 35] but not in EAC [19] (for example, NOTCH1 and FBXW7) are indeed involved in ESCC development (Additional file 15: Figure S7). Here, FBXW7 is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.