IGFBP7 and esophageal cancer: Numerous studies have confirmed the association between IGFBP7 and various cancers (Jin et al., 2020; Li et al., 2023), including hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer (Godina et al., 2021; Wilcox et al., 2021), esophageal cancer (Li et al., 2022), colorectal cancer, and prostate cancer (Singh et al., 2020).