Since LDHD had a higher enrichment in ESCC CSCs than differentiated cells, we subsequently explored the effect of LDHD on stemness-related properties for ESCC-CSCs and observed that these stem cell-like indicator molecules such as ABCG2, SOX2 and NANOG were up-regulated dramatically in all three LDHD overexpressed ESCC cells (Fig. 6a). This evidence concerns the gene SOX2 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.