Mutation and overexpression of the tumor suppressor gene product, p53, is believed to play an important role in the development of human malignant tumors. Many studies shows that overxpression of the mutant p53 gene product is common in human malignant tumours including esophageal cancer. However, the prognostic significance of overexpression of p53 gene is not well defined. In this study, we have investigated the overexpression of p53 gene product in 174 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma collected from Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, China. 48.9% of these esophageal squamous cell carcinomas were positive for p53 staining. Correlations of overexpression of p53 with clinicopathological features including histological type and grade, clinical staging, age and sex was analyzed in all specimens. The prognostic significance of p53 stained esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was analyzed in 111 of these patients follow-up for five-year. Significant statistical correlations were observed between p53 positive and poor prognosis analyzed by Cox proportional hazard regression analysis, (F=0.04). No statistically significant differences were observed between p53 overexpression and the clinicopathological factors including age, sex, differentiation and clinical staging of the cancer, but patients with Vositioly expressed p53 has a poorer prognosis than those with negative expression. The present study indicate that overexpression of p53 may be a useful independent prognostic factor in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma at its early stage.