The prevalence of CD8 positivity in ESCC tissues ranges from 2.39% to 57.5% [15,16,17], but its relationship with overall survival appears equivocal with negative findings in most studies [9,18,19,20]; moreover, few studies have reported a change of PD-L1 expression before and after CCRT, nor its relationship with CD8 T cell expression or patients’ outcome. Here, CD8A is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.