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OBJECTIVETo quantitatively explore the expression of Syndecan-1 and heparanase-1 in esophageal cancer tissue as well as their relationship with the clinicopathological factors, in order to evaluate their roles in tumor invasion and metastasis. METHODS Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (Q-PCR) was used to analyze the expression levels of Syndecan-1 and heparanase-1 genes，participants included 67 cases with esophageal cancers and 32 healthy volunteers. RESULTS The expression of Heparanase-1 gene in esophageal cancers was higher than that in normal esophageal tissue (P < 0.001), and the expression of Syndecan-1 gene in the normal esophageal tissue was higher compared with esophageal cancers (P < 0.001). The positive rates of Syndecan-1 and Heparanase-1 gene in esophageal cancer were 13.4% (9/67) and 85.1% (57/67). The expression of Syndecan-1 and Heparanase-1 genes was signifi cantly related to diff erentiation, depth of infi ltration, lymph node metastasis, vessel metastasis, and TNM stages of disease (P < 0.05). In an attempt to measure the association between the 2 agents, this study found that the expression of Syndecan-1 mRNA had a significantly negative correlation with the expression of Heparanase-1 mRNA by using Spearman rank correlation test (OR = -0.572, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Syndecan-1 and Heparanase-1 play important roles in the invasion and metastasis of esophageal cancer. The reduction of Syndecan-1 and/or the increase of Heparanase-1 may influence the invasion and metastasis of malignant tumors. Thus the combination assay of Syndecan-1 and Heparanase-1 may contribute to the diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors.KEY WORDS: Syndecan-1, esophageal neoplasms, neoplasm invasiveness, neoplasm metastasis, PCR.