ATRA has been reported for its function in treating acute promyelocytic leukaemia patients.[25] An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that ATRA inhibits TIC properties in various solid cancer types.[26] For example, ATRA promotes the differentiation of GBM stem cells and thus suppresses tumor growth by regulating the Notch pathway.[26b] Here, we found that ATRA suppressed ESCC tumor initiation and progression by promoting OTUD6B translation and inhibiting TIC properties of ESCC cancer cells. This evidence concerns the gene OTUD6B and neoplasm.