IL-1β is up-regulated in breast, colon, lung, oral, and esophageal cancers (Escobar et al., 2015; Shiiba et al., 2015; Voronov and Apte, 2015; Garon et al., 2020), and linked to poor prognosis for patients with esophageal cancer (Chen et al., 2012). The gene discussed is IL1B; the disease is esophageal cancer.