Background/Aims: This study aimed at investigating the effects of metformin on the growth and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Two human ESCC cell lines EC9706 and Eca109 were selected and challenged with metformin in this study. Western blot assay was performed to detect th level of Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase-3. Scratch wound assay, transwell assay and Millicell invasion assay were used to assay the invasion and migration of EC9706 and Eca109 cells. Nude mice tumor models were used to assay the growth and lung metastasis of ESCC cells after metformin treatment. The plasma glucose level was also assayed. Results: We found that metformin significantly inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis of both ESCC cell lines in a dose-and time-dependent manner, and the expression of Bcl-2 was down-regulated and Bax and Caspase-3 were upregulated. Metformin significantly inhibited the invasion and migration of EC9706 and Eca109 cells (p < 0.05). mRNA and protein levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 decreased significantly upon treatment with metformin of 10mM for 12, 24 and 48h in a time-dependent manner (p < 0.05). In line with in vitro results, in vivo experiments demonstrated that metformin inhibited tumorigenicity, inhibited lung metastasis and down-regulated the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9. Moreover, we showed that metformin treatment did not cause significant alteration in liver and renal functions and plasma glucose level. Conclusion: Our study for the first time demonstrated the anti-invasive and anti-metastatic effects of metformin on human ESCC cells both in vitro and in vivo, which might be associated with the down-regulation of MMP-2 and MMP-9. As a whole, our results indicate the potential of metformin to be developed as a chemotherapeutic agent for patients with ESCC and might stimulate future studies on this area. (C) 2018 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel