The number of differently methylated genes increased to 10 (BNIP3, BRCA1, CCND1, HTATIP2, ITGAV, NFKB1, PIK3R1, PRDM16, PTX3 and TAP2) between ESCC and healthy control tissues (Table 3). This evidence concerns the gene PTX3 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.