For future research on the expression of candidate genes in the pathogenesis of ESCC and to ensure the accuracy of qRT-PCR gene expression analysis, we tested, in addition to ACTB and GAPDH, six other commonly used genes that have been evaluated as stable reference genes in other human cancer studies for the purpose of providing stable reference genes in ESCC. The gene discussed is GAPDH; the disease is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.