Targeted follow‐up studies on KRT17 and COL1A1 genes with ESCC survival may help not only elucidate the mechanisms that relate the two genes to tumor initiation and, more broadly, the roles of KRT17 and COL1A1 during tumorigenesis but also understand how these elements play out in different populations of ESCC and other tissues. This evidence concerns the gene COL1A1 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.