The presence of HPV DNA and the expression of p53 protein and proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma were determined to evaluate the relationship of these factors and their association with their pathologic stages and cervical lymph node metastasis. Among 65 patients the presence of HPV DNA was found in 12 cases(18.5%), p53 was found positive in 32 cases(49.2%) and expression of PCNA was observed in 24 cases(36.9%). The expression of PCNA was more frequent in the HPV positive cancers compared with the HPV negative ones(p =0.0018), and p53 revealed its higher rate of cooccurrence with the expression of PCNA(p =0.008), which might suggest that PCNA expression has a positive relationship with HPV and p53 mutation in head and neck cancer. There might be inverse relationship between HPV and p53 mutation(p =0.063), but 3 cases showed both HPV DNA positivity and p53 expression. HPV was detected at a higher rate in the early pathologic stages than in the advanced stages of cancer, and p53 expression was more frequently found in the advanced stages(p =0.044). These results suggests that HPV and p53 mutation might have different etiologic roles in the development of head and neck cancer, or cases with p53 mutation might have more aggressive behavior. PCNA expression showed no difference between early and late stages of cancer, and between cases with and without cervical lymph node metastasis.