Salivary gland carcinoma such as adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC) is characterized by slow growth, diffuse invasion and lung metastasis, which determine the patient's prognosis. It is important to clarify an attractant molecule leading tumor cells to migrate. We examined the effects of stromal cell-derived factor (SDF) -1, a chemokine, on salivary gland carcinoma cell clone HSG and its subclone HSG-AZA3. SDF-1 promoted the invasion and migration of HSG and HSG-AZA3 cells dose-dependently. Immunocytostaining and RT-PCR indicated that HSG and HSG-AZA3 cells expressed SDF-1 receptor, CXCR4, both in protein and mRNA level, respectively. CXCR4 was present on the cell surface of HSG cells, and was downregulated by SDF-1 addition. Finally, we confirmed that CXCR4 was expressed in the tissue of AdCC. Our study suggests that SDF-1 and CXCR4 play a role in the migration of carcinoma of salivary gland origin.