Objective：To investigate the role of CLDN1 on the proliferation and metastases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC） cell line TE10 and the underlying mechanism. Methods：ESCC cell line TE10 was cultured and constructed with stable ex－pression of CLDN1 through lentivirus transfection and screening by 1 μg/mL puro，and then the overexpression of CLDN1 was identi－fied by western blot. Furthermore，the proliferation and metastases of indicated group cells were examed by CCK-8 and Transwell as－say respectively. To explore the mechanism underlying，the mRNA microarray was also performed for TE10 with CLDN1 overexpres－sion to screen target gene downstream. At last，the rescue assay was performed to confirm the mechanism. Results：Compared with that of negative group，matrix metallopeptidase1（MMP1） expression was significantly increased（2.68±0.10）（P<0.05）. CCK-8 array re－vealed that the proliferation of TE10 with Lv-CLDN1 transfected was significantly attenuated [（34.5±2.6） vs. （11.5±1.6）]（P<0.05）. Transwell assay confirmed that the cell numbers of TE10 with Lv-CLDN1 transfected penetrated the membrane were obviously more than those of negative control [（54.8±3.4） vs. （24.6±2.1）] （P<0.05）. The microarray revealed that MMP1 expression was signifi－cant increased in TE10 cells with Lv-CLDN1 transfected and the results was confirmed by qRT-PCR and Western blot. The rescue assay showed that the proliferation and metastases were all inhibited after MMP1 scilencing. Conclusion：CLDN1 promotes the prolif－eration and metastases of TE10 cells by up-regulating MMP1.