Objective To investigate the expression and its clinical significance of raf1 kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and normal laryngeal squamous epithelium. Methods Immunohistochemistry was used for detecting the expression of RKIP and phosphoextracellular signalregulated kinase (PERK) in 41 specimens of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and 8 of normal laryngeal squamous epithelium. Results The expression of RKIP in specimens of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma was lower than that in normal laryngeal squamous epithelium with significant difference (P<0.05). In specimens of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, RKIP positive staining rate in nodepositive tumors was lower than that in nodenegative ones, and the difference was significant (P<0.05). In specimens of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma with lymphatic metastasis, the difference in RKIP expression between primary foci and metastatic lymph nodes was statistically insignificant. In specimens of primary foci, the expression of RKIP was positively correlated with that of PERK (P=0.003, r=0.456). Conclusion The primary laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma with reduced expression of RKIP tends toward metastasis. Mitogenactivated protein kinase( MAPK) pathway might be activated by multiple upstream signals, and RKIP can not suppress the activation of this pathway completely in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.