Objective To investigate the expression and significance of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN and the correlation between them in oral squamous cell carcinoma ( OSCC) . Methods The expression of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN mR-NA in 43 cases of OSCC and 11 cases of normal oral tissue were detected by RT-PCR. Results The expression of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN mRNA in OSCC was significantly higher than those in normal oral tissue ( P <0.05 ) . Compared with those without lymph node metastasis in OSCC, the expression of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN mRNA with lymph node metastasis was significantly higher ( P <0.05 ) . Furthermore, the expression of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN was significantly associated with pathological stage and the lymph node metastasis,but neither of them was correlated with sex and age. Correlation analysis showed that MMP-14 expression level was positively related to EMMPRIN level(r=0.801,P<0.01). Conclusion The expression of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN in OSCC is signif-icantly correlated with occurrence, progress and metastasis of OSCC. Therefore, the combination of detecting the expression of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN mRNA may evaluate the degree of malignancy and predict the prognosis of patients with OSCC.