MALAT1 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: The present finding is consistent with a previous finding by our team indicating that MALAT1 overexpression with correlated aberration in KDM5B/hsa-miR-448 ratio promotes breast cancer aggressiveness and stemness [27], as well as with others indicating MALAT1 promotes stemness in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma [28] and gastric cancer [29].