CD274 and esophageal cancer: Zhang et al. (2017) observed increased PD-L1 expression in esophageal cancer patients after radiotherapy and in irradiated esophageal squamous cells. High expression of PD-L1 usually suggests that such patients have higher sensitivity to immune checkpoint therapy and several trials are currently addressing the role of immunotherapy in adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy for esophageal/gastroesophageal junction cancer (National Cancer Institute, 2022).