In 2021, the study by Gao demonstrated for the first time that the high expression of PURα was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and advanced AJCC stage of ESCC via IHC staining of 255 ESCC samples, which suggested that PURα was critical for the progression of ESCC (Gao et al. 2021). The gene discussed is PURA; the disease is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.