Building on this research, Xing et al. (2017) investigated the RNA transcriptome of six pairs of ESCC tissues and identified three potential biomarkers: chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1), matrix metallopeptidase 13 (MMP13), and osteopontin (SPP1). This evidence concerns the gene SPP1 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.