PHLDB2 has been shown to promote carcinogenesis in renal cancer (Wang et al., 2021), colorectal cancer (Chen et al., 2019), and esophageal squamous cell cancer (Hoshino et al., 2016), as well as the process of EMT in colon cancer (Chen et al., 2019). This evidence concerns the gene PHLDB2 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.