While NEC1 were prevalent in normal tissues, TECs were exclusively present in ESCC tumors and TEC2/3 had increased expression of ANGPT2 that disrupts pericyte–EC interactions to enable angiogenesis23 (Fig. 5f, Supplementary Fig. 5h, i; Supplementary Data 3 and 4). Here, PCSK1 is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.