Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of metastasis suppressor gene KiSS-1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its clinical significance. Methods Expression of KiSS-1 in 65 pairs of ESCC and adjacent normal tissues were detected by real-time quantitative RT-PCR assay, and its clinical relevance with clinicopathologic parameters was evaluated. Results KiSS-1 expression in ESCC tissues was significantly lower than those in adjacent normal tissues (P=0.017). The deficient KiSS-1 expression in ESCC tissues was correlated with lymph node metastasis but not correlated with tumor size, histological type, degree of tumor invasion or invasion to adventitia (P=0.480, P=0.827, P=0.823). In addition, the ESCC patients with deficient KiSS-1 expression had significantly poorer overall survival (P=0.009). Conclusion Deficient KiSS-1 expression may be an important biomarker for detecting lymph node metastasis in ESCC, and KiSS-1 might be a potent prognostic marker for ESCC patients.