Abstract: Objective : To investigate the expression and clinical significance of gelatinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9) in tissue samples of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Methods : Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in tissue sam-ples of 72 LSCCs and the results were compared to clinical pathological features and prognosis. Results : The positive expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in 72 LSCCs was 50.0%(36/72) and 73.6% (53/72) respectively. Their expression had the relationship with cancer advancement. Their positive expression in T1+T2 and T3+T4 was 2.9%(1/35), 24.3%(9/37)and 25.7%(9/35), 48.6% (18/37)respectively, which had significant difference (P=0.008, P=0.045). The positive expression rate of MMP-2 in stage I + Ⅱand Ⅲ + Ⅳ was 3.1% and 22.5% respectively. There was signifi-cant relationship between the expression of MMP-2 and clinical stage. The expression of MMP-2 was more evident in advanced LSCCs. The strong expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was also a marker for poor prognosis in LSCC. The 5-year survival rate was 62.9% (39/62) and 20.0% (2/10) in negative/weak positive and strong positive expression of MMP-2 respectively. Strong ex-pression of MMP-2 decreased survival significantly (P=0.0040). The 5-year survival rate was 64.4% (29/45) and 44.4H (12/27) in negative/weak positive and strong positive expression of MMP-9 respectively. The strong expression of MMP-9 also influenced the survival, but Log Rank test only showed marginal significance (P=0.0553). Conclusion : There is the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in LSCC, which has the significant relationship with tumor advancement and is a potential marker for poor prognosis of LSCC.