ZNF582 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: To further evaluate the clinical significance of PAX1 and ZNF582 methylation in ESCC development and progression, the association of PAX1/ZNF582 methylation to the clinicopathological features of ESCC patients was analyzed, as a previous report [38] indicated a significant association between PAX6 methylation and TNM stage of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).