Radiotherapy with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors has been tested in many trials with encouraging results.42–44 Two phase II studies reported the promising efficacy of concurrent radiotherapy with gefitinib or erlotinib in elderly oesophageal cancer patients.45,46 EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy can reverse poor outcomes in oesophageal cancer.16,18 Our results demonstrated that EGFR expression estimated a poor prognosis and could serve as a predictive biomarker for erlotinib administration with CRT. The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is carcinoma of esophagus.