Previous studies7–10 reported a total of 17 genes significantly mutated in Chinese ESCC patients, including TP53, CDKN2A, FBXW7, PIK3CA and NFE2L2. The detailed information about the SMGs, sample size, sequencing protocol and clinical information was summarized in Table 1. The gene discussed is TP53; the disease is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.