Objective: To investigate the effect of silencing the endoplasmic reticulum stress-related protein calnexin on the proliferation, invasion, and migration of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells. Methods : Calnexin siRNA was transfected into SCC-9 and SCC-25 tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells, and the expression of calnexin was detected by qRT-PCR. The silencing effect of calnexin siRNA was further verified by Western blotting. CCK-8 assay was applied to detect the effect of silencing calnexin on the proliferation of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells; Transwell assay was used to detect the effect of silencing calnexin on the invasion and migration of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells. Results : qRT-PCR showed that calnexin siRNA could effectively downregulate the expression of calnexin. Western blot analysis further confirmed the silencing effect of calnexin siRNA on calnexin. The CCK-8 assay showed that silencing calnexin expression on the 4th and 5th days could inhibit the proliferation of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.01). The Transwell assay showed that knockdown of calnexin could inhibit the invasion and migration of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells (P < 0.001). Conclusion Knockdown of calnexin can inhibit the proliferation, invasion, and migration of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells.