Finally, 18 SMGs were identified (Fig. 2, Supplementary Table 6), 15 of which had been previously reported in ESCC (TP53, AJUBA, CDKN2A, KMT2D(MLL2), ZNF750, FAT1, NOTCH1, NOTCH3, PIK3CA, NFE2L2, RB1, KDM6A, FBXW7, CREBBP, and TGFBR2). Here, AJUBA is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.