ESCC genetic susceptibility associated with telomere length-related CXCR4 rs6430612, TERT rs13172201 and OBFC1 rs4387287 polymorphisms was further investigated by stratifying for age, sex, smoking and alcohol drinking status using pooled data of two case-control sets (Table 5). The gene discussed is TERT; the disease is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.