The inhibitor of growth 5 (ING5) is a new candidate tumor suppressor gene (TSG) of the ING family. So far, there have been many reports about its functions related to cancer development. However, the biological roles of ING5 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remain unclear. In the present study, we demonstrated that ING5 was lowly expressed in ESCC tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of ING5 inhibited ESCC cell proliferation and invasion in vitro as well as suppressed tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. We also found that overexpression of ING5 significantly decreased the levels of p-AKT, NF-kappa B and MMP-9 in ECA109 cells. Taken together, these findings demonstrated that ING5 inhibited cell proliferation and invasion in ESCC through regulation of the Akt/NF-kappa B/MMP-9 signaling pathway. Thus, ING5 might be considered a promising target for ESCC treatment. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier