Abstract: Objective：To detect the expression of zinc finger transcript factor Snail and E-cadherin in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC), and explore the association between those molecules and invasion and metastasis of esophageal cancer. Methods：Immunohistochemical method was used to investigate the expression of Snail and E-cadherin proteins in 62 cases of ESCC, 31 cases of adjacent atypical hyperplasia epithelium, and 62 cases of normal esophageal epithelium, and relationship between the expression of Snail and E-cadherin and the clinic pathological data in ESCC was analyzed. Results：Expression of both Snail and E-cadherin proteins were tightly associated with tissue grade, invasion depth and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). In addition, the positive expression rate of Snail protein in ESCC, adjacent atypical hyperplasia epithelium and normal esophageal epithelium tissue were 79.0% (49/62), 48.4% (15/31) and 17.7% (11/62), respectively, and there was a significant difference among the 3 groups (χ²=50.129，P<0.01), whereas the positive expression rate of E-cadherin protein in ESCC, adjacent atypical hyperplasia epithelium and normal esophageal epithelium tissue were 40.3% (25/62), 71.0% (22/31) and 95.2% (59/62), respectively, and there was a significant difference among the 3 groups (χ² =48.426，P<0.01). Further correlation analysis revealed that expression of Snail and E-cadherin appeared negative correlation in ESCC. Conclusion：Aberrant expression of Snail and E-cadherin may be closely correlated with the development and progression of ESCC, detection of combination of Snail and E-cadherin may be the important biology marker of invasion and metastasis of ESCC.