Methylation array profiling of paired ESCC tissues revealed significantly lower methylation of cg07757887 (−1220 bp in the CTHRC1 genomic region) in ESCC tumour tissues compared with non-tumour tissues (n = 67, ∆ß =−0.19; FDR = 1.34E-23, unpublished data). This evidence concerns the gene CTHRC1 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.