In a cohort study of 128 patients with AEG, those with MTA3-positive tumors demonstrated significantly improved overall survival compared to those with MTA3-negative tumors (P < 0.001), with this survival advantage consistently observed across both lymph node metastasis-positive and lymph node metastasis-negative subgroups. The gene discussed is MTA3; the disease is metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.