Objective To investigate Expressions of CD1a and CD83 molecules in cervical lesions. Methods Immunohistochemical method was used to examine the expressions of CD1a and CD83 molecules in tissue samples from 30 patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the cervix, 30 patients with cervical condyloma accuminatum (CA) and 30 patients with cervicitis. Results With the increase in the invasiveness of cervical lesions, there was a decline in the density of immature CD1a+ dendritic cells. The average number of immature CD1a+ dendritic cells per high power field (HPF) was 3.45 in cervicitis tissue, 2.89 in CA tissue, 2.41 in SCC tissue. On the contrast, a significant increase was observed in the density of mature CD83+ dendritic cells in CA tissue and SCC tissue compared with the cervicitis tissue (0.057 celIs/HPF and 0.039 celIs/HPF vs 0.019 celIs/HPF, both P < 0.05). The positivity rates of HPV 16/18 and HPV 6/11 were 56.67% and 3.30%, respectively, in cervical carcinoma tissue, 73.30% and 6.67%, respectively, in CA tissue, 3.30% and 0, respectively, in cervicitis tissue. Conclusions Compared with CA tissue, less mature dendritic cells were observed in cervical carcinoma tissue, demonstrating that the antigen presenting cells in carcinoma tissue are insufficient to mount an adequate immune response to prevent lesional invasion.