CDKN2A and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: In the present study, we showed for the first time that in female patients with ESCC without drinking and smoking habits, which are considered risk factors for ESCC, there are distinctive genetic alterations in the esophageal epithelium, particularly a high frequency of CDKN2A gene variants in adjacent non-neoplastic epithelium and high p14ARF expression in neoplastic and adjacent non-neoplastic epithelium.