Abstract: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma（ESCC）is one of the most fatal malignant tumors in digestion system. Long non-coding RNA（LncRNA）has become a research hotspot since it is not only involved in gene expression and regulation in different levels, but also affects cell proliferation, differentiation, metabolism and apoptosis. In this review, we first briefly introduce the structure of lncRNA and then summarize the recent research progresses of lncRNAs in the field of ESCC. LncRNAs regulate gene expression of esophageal squamous carcinoma associated genes by epigenetic modification, alternative splicing and co-expression network，furthermore, affect the development and progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas. Therefore, LncRNAs may serve as markers for ESCC diagnosis and prognosis and even serve as therapeutic targets. Secondary structure prediction of lncRNA is helpful to promote the research of lncRNA.

Key words: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, long non-coding RNA, mechanism, structure prediction