The trials such as KEYNOTE-590 (2), CheckMate-648 (20), and JUPITER-06 (21) have demonstrated that ESCC patients patients derive clinical benefit from immunotherapy irrespective of PD-L1 status, yet the TD-NICE study failed to establish a significant correlation between PD-L1 expression and pCR (4). Here, CD274 is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.