Fig. 2

Identification and analysis of differentially expressed genes in ESCA with focus on MCM8. a UpSet Plot illustrating the overlap of genes meeting the screening criteria for differential expression and prognostic value across six datasets, including TCGA ESCA dataset and GEO datasets GSE17351, GSE63941, GSE45168, and GSE45670. b–g Plots illustrating the differential expression of MCM8 in tumor groups relative to normal groups in various datasets. h Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve for MCM8, highlighting its significant diagnostic value in ESCA with an AUC of 0.920 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.850–0.989; p < 0.05]. i, j Kaplan–Meier survival curves demonstrating the association between elevated MCM8 expression and poorer overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) (p < 0.05). k Kaplan–Meier survival curve for the progression-free interval (PFI) (p > 0.05)