A research paper entitledSpatial transcriptomics analysis of esophageal squamous precancerous lesions and their progression to esophageal cancerwas published online in the journalNature Communications,with the author Liu Xuejiao, doctoral student of Zhengzhou University (ZZU).This research revealed that the abnormal expression of squamous epithelial heat shock protein 58 (Cornulin, CRNN) and Transgelin 2 (TAGLN2) is related to precancerous lesions of the esophagus progress to esophageal cancer, and expected to become an early intervention marker for esophageal cancer. Prof. Dong Zigang and Prof. Li Xiang in ZZU are co-corresponding authors of the paper.