In a previous paper, we found that expression of STAT1β is significantly higher in immortalized esophageal cell lines than in ESCC cell lines, indicating that STAT1β is downregulated in ESCC tumorigenesis.6 We further show that STAT1β is downregulated in ESCC tissues compared to case-matched normal esophageal epithelia, which is similar to our previous findings on STAT1 in ESCC. This evidence concerns the gene STAT1 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.