Purpose To investigate the expression of Lgr5 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) and its significance.Methods Lgr5 protein expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry of EnVision two-step in 83 paraffin-embedded CSCC specimens,56 normal cervical tissues specimens and 32 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) specimens.The expression of Lgr5 mRNA was evaluated by RT-PCR in 13 pairs of surgically removed CSCC and adjacent normal cervical tissues.The correlation between Lgr5 expression and clinicopathological features were statistically analyzed.Results The positive proportion of Lgr5 protein in CSCC tissues was significantly higher than those in adjacent normal cervix (P ＜ 0.01) and CIN (P ＜ 0.05).The expression of Lgr5 in CSCC tissues was associated with grade of tumors (P ＜ 0.01) and depth of invasion (P ＜ 0.05),but not associated with age,tumor size,clinical stage and lymph node metastasis (P ＞ 0.05).Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the 5-year survival rate of patients with Lgr5 overexpression was significantly lower than that of patients with lower expression (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion The expression of Lgr5 in CSCC tissues may associated with grade of tumors and depth of invasion and may be involved in initiation and development of CSCC,and it may be a new assistant marker for prognosis of CSCC.