Taken together, the links of the findings in our cohort and the Moody’s cohort revealed that APOBEC signature was prominent in the ESCC patients with non-smoking/drinking habit, in which DCTN2 mutation upregulated the protein level of DCTN2, elevating mitosis and cell proliferation (Fig. 2j). This evidence concerns the gene DCTN2 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.