According to the results of immunohistochemical staining, the expression of HMGB1 (Fig. 1B(b–d)) and p-ATM (Fig. 1B(f–h)) in ESCC samples was higher in comparison with adjacent tissues with no tumor complication (Fig. 1B(a–e)). Here, HMGB1 is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.