Results showed that expressions of PD-1, TIM-3 and CD158 in CD4+ T cells of esophageal cancer patients were significantly higher than that in healthy donors (cancer patients vs. healthy donors, 22.92 ± 4.974% vs. 5.966 ± 1.220%, p = 0.0039; 18.18 ± 4.177% vs. 7.126 ± 1.276%, p = 0.0209; 0.5710 ± 0.1785% vs. 0.1118 ± 0.02247%, p = 0.0200). Here, CD4 is linked to cancer.