Chen et al. investigated B7-H4 protein in precancerous lesions of the esophagus and found it highly expressed in 9.1% of normal tissues, 40.7% of low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia, and 81.0% of high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia. This evidence concerns the gene VTCN1 and intraepithelial neoplasia.