Objective:To the investigate the expression of TESTIN in human esophageal squamous cancer tissues,and discuss its value in the development of esophageal squamous cell cancer(ESCC) . Methods:The expression of TESTIN in 65 matched-pairs of ESCC tissues were detected by immunohistochemical staining,western blot,and FQ-RT-PCR methods. The correlations of TESTIN to clinicopathologic features of ESCC were analyzed. Results:The mRNA level of TESTIN was down-regulated in ESCC (P < 0.05).The positive rate of TESTIN protein was significantly lower in ESCC tissues than that in nomal tissues (36.9% vs 87.7 %,P < 0.01). The protein level of TESTIN was down-regulated in 45 (69.2%) of 65 cancers as compared with corresponding normal tissues. TESTIN expression was positively correlated with the differentiation of ESCC. Meanwhile,differences in gender,age,tumor size,TNM stage and lymph node metastasis were not significant. Conclusion:The decreased expression of TESTIN gene may play an importmant role in the development of esophageal squamous cancer. And thus TESTIN gene might be a novel candidate of tumor-suppressor. It may be an objective marker for prognostic factor and malignant level for ESCC.