Background and purpose:E-cadherin is a calcium-dependent cell adhesion molecule that mediates cell-cell adhesion and also modulates cell migration and tumor invasion.Many studies supported the role of E-cadherin as an invasion suppressor gene.It has been suggested that unlike E-cadherin,?-catenin might promote the invasion and metastasis of carcinoma.This study explored clinical pathological significance of E-cadherin and ?-catenin expressions in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).Methods:The PV immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of E-cadherin and ?-catenin in 62 cases of normal esophageal epithelium,31 cases of adjacent atypical hyperplasia epithelium and 62 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Results:The positive rates of E-cadherin decreased by turns in the normal esophageal epithelium,adjacent atypical hyperplasia epithelium and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) specimens were 95.2%,71.0% and 40.3%,respectively.In normal esophageal epithelium,?-catenin showed higher intense expression at the membrane and lower intense expression in the cytoplasm.In contrast to the normal tissue,?-catenin was expressed in the cytoplasm of carcinoma in varied degrees,accompanied by less,or even negative expressions at the membrane.In some cases,?-catenin could be detected in the nucleus.Positive expression of ?-catenin(in cytoplasm) and negative expression of E-cadherin were related to the invasion,differentiation,and lymph node metastasis of ESCC(P