Hypoxia supports cell survival via reducing hypoxia-induced apoptosis by inhibiting the GRP78-perk-eIF2α-ATF4-CHOP pathway (Lin et al., 2023), or by inhibiting ferroptosis in ESCC via the USP2-NCOA4 pathway (Song et al., 2024). Here, HSPA5 is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.