DCLK1 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: In the last decades, it has been discovered that certain malignant neoplasms have increased expression of DCLK1, including pancreatic cancer (Li et al. 2018), Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) (Ge et al. 2021), Renal clear cell carcinoma (RCC) (Ge et al. 2018), stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) and colorectal cancer (CRC) (Wu et al. 2020; Gao et al. 2016).