OBJECTIVE To investigate the correlation of E-cadherin expression with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma.METHODS We examined the expression of the protein E-cadherin in 43 oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) surgical speciments by SABC immunohistochemistry.RESULTS There was a significant correlation between the level of Ecadherin expression and tumor stage (P=0.024), invasive pattern (P=0.009) and lymph node metastasis (P=0.023). No relation was found with age (P=0.084), sex (P=1.356) and differentiation (P=0.877). Using the Kaplan-Meier method we demonstrated that those cases which showed E-cadherin expression (-) or (+) had a significantly poorer prognosis compared those cases which showed expression (++) or (+++) (P= 0.0146).CONCLUSION E-cadherin, is an important indicator of clinical diagnoses and prognositic marker for oral SCC patients.