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, KDM6A is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.