In addition, after stratifying a cohort of 25 Hong Kong patients by the cause of death, a statistically significant negative correlation was uncovered between the relative POLQ mRNA expression levels in ESCC tumors and the patient survival upon surgical resection before ESCC-related death, highlighting the upregulation of POLQ association in ESCC tumors with growth advantages. Here, POLQ is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.