Elevated expression of survivin is strongly associated with tumorigenesis and even in human common cancers. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the 7th most frequent cancer in human and responsible for more than 90% of all oral cancer. The purpose of this study is to confirm whether survivin is associated with oral carcinogenesis, expecially has a role in the development of OSCC. For the control group; 3 specimens obtained from normal oral mucosa without any inflammatory reaction were used a nd for the experimental group, specimens obtained f rom 18 sub jects of OSCC; 6 subjects from Well differentiated type OSCC; 4 subjects from Moderately differentiated type OSCC; 3 subjects from Poorly differentiated type OSCC; 3 subjects from Verrucous carcinoma: and 2 subjects from C arcinoma in situ were used. All the specimens were embedded in paraffin, sectioned 5 μm or more in thickness, and stained with hematoxylin- eosin. For immunostain, the specimens were incubated with 1;200 diluted primary antibody (anti-survivin monoclonal, Biocare Inc, USA), followed by the secondary antibody(NovoLink Polymer detection system, Novocastra Lab., UK). The bound antibodies were visualized by addition of diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride(DAB) for 30 minutes at room temperature. The specimens were counterstained with Mayerʼs Hematoxylin and mounted. Quantitation of immunoreactivity was performed under the light microscope with the following criteria ; Intensive reaction; +++, Moderate reaction; ++, Minimal reaction; +. Using the image analyzer(Korea Optical System), immunoreactivity of tumor cells in various field was measured and statistically analyzed with SPSS 15.0 Program. The results were as follows: Expression of survivin in OSCC was significantly increased in the nucleus and the cytoplasm of OSCC as compare to those of control group (p<0.05). Expression of survivin in the nucleus and the cytoplasm of the cells in OSCC is correlated with the cellular malignancy (p<0.05). Expression of survivin in Poorly differentiated type OSCC partly correlated to some extent to cellular malignancy (p<0.05). These results suggest that expression of survivin in OSCC is closely associated with to the development, and malignancy of the OSCC, b ut it is not enough to be used a s a marker f or the c ellular malignancy. Further studies are needed to relate the expression of survivin to cellular malignancy.