To investigate the biological impact of enriched KIN in ESCC, we performed GSEA of DEGs between the KIN-high group and the KIN-low group in both the TCGA ESCA dataset and the HRA003107 dataset, which revealed enrichment of TNFA signaling via NFKB (Fig. 6a, b). This evidence concerns the gene TNF and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.