To investigate the correlation between the clinical features and the expression of p53, PCNA, and Ki-67 of the head neck squamous cell carcinoma, immunohistochemicalstaining of p53, PCNA, and Ki-67 on the paraffin embedded tissue blocks of 116 surgically removed specimens were done. The staining intensity was divided as grade 1 to grade 3 and the results were statistically analysed. 1. The positive reation rates of cell proliferation markers (PCNA and Ki-67) were higher than that of p53. There was significant correlations of the PCNA and Ki-67 expression but there was no significant correlations between p53 and PCNA or p53 and Ki-67. 2. There were no significant correlation between the expression of p53, PCNA and Ki-67 and tumor site or tumor size. 3. There was no significant differences in the positive response according to the nodal status. The node metastasis groups revealed that higher proportion of grade 3 staining of PCNA and Ki-67 than node negative group. From the above results it is concluded that p53 and cell proliferation markers PCNA and Ki-67 might have their unique mechanism involving in the growing and progression of tumor. Overexpression of p53 does not appear to represent an independent prognostic marker in head neck squamous cell carcinoma.