The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies has improved the survival rates of patients with recurrent or metastatic esophageal cancer.[2] The current National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) therapy (pembrolizumab[3] or nivolumab[4]) combined with chemotherapy as the preferred regimen for recurrent or metastatic advanced esophageal cancer. This evidence concerns the gene PDCD1 and esophageal cancer.