Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) demonstrated that the AKAP9 mutation positive-correlated proteins were converged on glycolysis (normalized enrichment score (NES) = 2.37, FDR = 0) (e.g., HK1, GPI, PGK1, etc.), which were gradually increased in ESCC progression (Kruskal–Wallis test, FDR < 0.05, A-ESCC vs. NT ratio ≥ 2) (Fig. 5f, g). The gene discussed is GPI; the disease is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.