ATAD2 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: Since we also found that ATAD2 was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and advanced clinical stage in ESCC patients, and TGF-β signaling pathway was proved to promote tumor progression in advanced-stage tumors, thus we hypothesize that function of TGF-β signaling pathway regulated by ATAD2 may mainly work in advanced ESCC patients.