Abstract: Objective To explore the clinical signifi cance of E-selectin expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods Fifty-eight tissues of ESCC and adjacent normal mucosa each were collected as samples. The expression of E-selectin mRNA was detected by real-time PCR. E-selectin protein levels were determined by immunohistochemical PV-9000. The correlation between E-selectin expression and the clinicalpathological features was analyzed. Results The mRNA and protein expression levels of E-selectin were significantly higher in ESCC than in normal mucosa. There was a positive correlation between the expression of E-selectin and clinical stage, lymph node metastasis and invasion depth (P<0.05). No positive correlation was found between the expression of E-selectin and gender, age, tumor location, pathological type, degree of differentiation or tumor size (P>0.05). Conclusion The expression levels of E-selectin mRNA and protein in ESCC tissues were signifi cantly increased and related with the invasion and lymph node metastasis. The enhanced E-selectin may serve as auxiliary indexes for judging disease progression, invasion, metastasis and prognosis prediction and as a new biological target for the treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.