Abstract: Objective : To explore the expressions and clinical significance of heat shock proteins 27 and 70 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods : The expressions and their significance of HSP 27 and 70 in 101 cases of ESCC were studied with S-P immunohistochemical method and statistical analysis. Among the 101 cases, 38 cases were classified into long-term survival group (≥5 years) and 63 cases into short-term survival group (≤1 year) according to following-up data. The two groups were matched in all pathological and clinical features but post-esophagectomy survival time. Results : The total positive expression rate of HSP 27 and HSP 70 in 101 cases was 88.1% and 96% respectively. Both the positive expression rate and expression intensity of HSP 27 in long-term survival group were higher than that in short -term survival group (P\0.05). The positive expression rate and strongly expression rate were 94.7% and 81.6% for the former, while those for the latter were 84.1% and 54.0% (P<0.05). The positive expression and strongly positive expression rate of HSP 70 in long-term survival group were 97.4% and 68.4% respectively, while those in short-term survival group were 9,.2% and 76.2%. No statistical significance in the difference was found (P>0.05). There was no significant correlation between expression of HSP27 and HSP70 and clinicopathologic features in the ESCC cases. Analysis of logistic regression showed that the expression of HSP27 was correlated with prognosis of ESCC (P<0.01), but no such correlation was found for HSP70(P>0.05). Conclusion : The expression of HSP 27 was an independent prognostic factor of ESCC and it could be considered one of the important prognostic biomarkers of ESCC. There was no correlation between the expression level of HSP70 and the prognosis of ESCC.