Abstract: Objective To explore relationships between the expression of excision repair cross complementing 1 protein (ERCC1) and its gene polymorphism and the survival time of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)and to provide references for the prevention and treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Methods Totally 108 ESCC inpatients receiving postoperation adjuvant chemotherapy at Affiliated Hospital of Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences were randomly selected between January 2011 and October 2012.ERCC1 protein expression was detected with immunohistochemical method and expression frequencies of allele loci C8092A and C118T of ERCC1 gene were determined with PCR.The participants were followed up for 40 months to collect information about survival.Results The positive rate of ERCC1 protein expression was 51.9%(56/108) among the patients.The median survival times were 29.7 and 31.4 months for the patients positive and negative to ERCC1 protein expression,without significant difference (P>0.05).The frequencies of ERCC1 gene C8092A loci were 17.6%(19 patients)for CC,41.7%(45) for CA,and 40.7%(44) for AA and those of C118T were 60.2%(65)for CC,27.8%(30) for CT,and 12.1%(13) for TT,respectively.The median survival times were 31.5 and 32.0 months for the patients with CC and CA allele of C8092A locus and were significantly longer than that (24.5) of the patients with AA(P<0.05); the median survival times were 30.5,30.0,and 29.0 months for the patients with CC,CT,and TT allele of C118T loci,without significant difference(P>0.05).Conclusion ERCC1 protein expression is not significantly associated with the survival of ESCC patients and the polymorphism of C8092A locus of ERCC1 gene relates at certain extent to the survival of ESCC patients.