MCL1 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: Our results suggests that MCL-1 contributes to the development of ESCC and provide insights into the potential role of MCL-1 as a therapeutic target in ESCC chemotherapy and show that antagonizing MCL-1 function with RNAi-mediated knockdown or small molecule MCL-1 inhibitor UMI-77 sensitizes ESCC cells to cisplatin-induced apoptosis.