“…It has been established that lncRNAs play a crucial role in the progression of ESCC. Clinically, lncRNAs have been associated with various aspects of ESCC, including lymph node metastasis, tumor size ( 4 ), tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage ( 3 ), prognosis ( 5 ), overall survival (OS) rate ( 6 ), pathological grade of differentiation ( 7 ), survival duration ( 8 ), malignancy grade ( 9 ), distant metastasis ( 10 ), depth of invasion ( 11 ) and postoperative metastasis ( 12 ). In ESCC cell lines, lncRNAs have been implicated in processes such as cell proliferation ( 13 ), migration ( 14 ), invasion ( 15 ), epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition ( 16 ), cell cycle progression ( 17 ), radiosensitivity ( 18 ), glycolysis ( 19 ), chemotherapy resistance, apoptosis ( 20 ), angiogenesis ( 21 ), maintenance of stem cell characteristics ( 22 ), as well as autophagy-related events ( 23 ).…”