To strengthen the significance, LINC00680 was found to present at a much higher level in ESCC tissues than adjacent normal tissues (Additional file 1: Figure S2L), and high expression of LINC00680 was positively associated with poor prognosis in ESCC patients (Additional file 1: Figure S2M) in our in-house cohort. The gene discussed is LINC00680; the disease is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.