A novel therapeutic approach for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 gene therapy

Although significant improvements have been made in surgical techniques, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, the prognosis of the patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) still remain poor (1-3). Therefore, the identification of new molecules involved in the progression of ESCC is worthwhile, and for this, the elucidation of the underlying signaling pathway is important. Recently, Sugase et al. (4) have suggested a novel promising approach for the treatment of ESCC: overexpression of the suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 (SOCS1).