Changes in cell adhesion molecules are associated with infiltration and metastatic progression of cancer. Reduced expression of E-cadherin and ${eta}-catenin$ complex in some carcinomas has been reported. The changes in the expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is not fully understood and it also remains undetermined whether the expression of these adhesion molecules in metastatic lesions differs from that in the primary lesions. In the present study, therefore, we immunohistochemically examined the expression of E-cadherin and ${eta}-catenin$ in 45 primary OSCCs and 19 metastatic lymph nodes. We compared the expression of these molecules between primary and metastatic lesions and investigated the correlation between the expression and clinicopathologic parameters. The expression of E-cadherin and ${eta}-catenin$ was reduced in 35/45 (78.2%), 14/45 (31.2%) of primary tumors respectively, but 18/19 (94.7%) and 17/19 (89.4%) of lymph nodes showed preserved expression. The reduced expression of the E-cadherin was associated with lymph node metastasis, invasive mode and marginal status but no significant relationship was not found with ${eta}-catenin$. In conclusion, the loss of E-cadherin and ${eta}-catenin$ complex function is associated with progression of OSCC and suggest that the expression of this complex will be a supplementary prognostic tool.