To address this, and to identify the drug combinations most likely to benefit ESCC patients, in this study, we have investigated the outcomes from platinum/fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy in EGFR CNG positive and negative gastroesophageal cancer patients and then the combinatorial activity of EGFR inhibitors with cytotoxic drugs in ESCC cell lines with EGFR CNG and varying intrinsic sensitivity to gefitinib. The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.