Esophageal cancer is the 8th most common cancer worldwide with an estimated 456,000 new cases each year.1 Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the dominant histological type and accounts for 80% of esophageal cancers.2 With the increased understanding of cancer biology, more and more targeted drugs, such as gefitinib,3 cetuximab4 or imatinib administration5 have been approved for clinical treatment because of their higher efficacy and lower toxicity compared with traditional chemotherapy. However, an effective therapeutic drug targeting ESCC has not yet been developed. ESCC is the 4th leading cause of cancer death in China and 7th in the world because of its ability to develop chemoresistance and tendency to metastasize.6 Even for patients with early stage ESCC, adjuvant therapy cannot prolong their overall survival significantly compared with surgery alone.7