Since stemness markers determine self-renewing cell populations with CSC characteristics in various types of cancers [34], we next examined the effect of TWIST1 overexpression on the induction of stemness genes SALL4, OCT4, NANOG and SOX2 in KYSE-30 and YM-1 ESCC cells. The gene discussed is TWIST1; the disease is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.