We investigated the cancer-associated pathways further by visualizing the expression of their core leading-edge genes (identified by GSEA software), and it was found that these genes were almost exclusively transcriptionally elevated in the TOC 2 group of samples, while TOC 1 samples generally clustered alongside normal esophageal samples and displayed a similar expression pattern (Figure 3Cii). This evidence concerns the gene RHBDF2 and cancer.