Purpose:To study the expression and clinical significance of p27 in esophageal carcinoma. Methods:Immunohistochemical staining was used to determine the expression of p27 in 32 cases of normal esophageal issues and 88 cases of esophageal carcinoma.Results:The positive incidences of P27 expression in esophageal carcinoma was 40.9% while in normal esophageal issues it was 75.0%. The expression of p27 was correlated to degree of differentiation of carcinoma and lymph node metastasis, but not to length, depth of invasion and TNM stage. The p27 negative group was seen to have the worst survival rate among all groups.Conclusions:The results suggest that p27 gene plays an important role in carcinogenesis and progress of esophageal carcinoma. Expression of P27 may prove to be valuable in prognosis assessment of esophageal carcinoma.