CGAS and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: In the present study, we showed that the double KO of POLQ and FANCD2, two important components of the DNA damage repair/replication stress response genes, leads to (1) an exacerbated level of micronuclei-harboring ESCC cells, (2) overexpression of ISGs including CCL5 in ESCC cell lines and subcutaneous tumors, (3) upregulation of cGAS, and (4) exacerbated phosphorylation of STAT1 at Tyr 701.