〔Abstract〕 Objective To analyze the expression level and clinical significance of Y⁃box binding protein⁃1（YB1） in tissues and cells of oral squamous cell carcinoma（OSCC）. Methods Bioinformatics analysis，immunohisto⁃ chemistry，Western blot and qRT-PCR were used to detect the expression of YB 1 in OSCC tissues，and the progno⁃ sis and survival analysis were performed. The effects of YB 1 on the proliferation，migration and invasion of OSCC cells were evaluated by CCK-8，scratch assay and Transwell assay，and the expression changes of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B（PI3K/AKT）signaling pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transition（EMT）related markers after YB 1 knockdown were detected by Western blot. Results Bioinformation analysis showed that the ex ⁃ pression level of YB 1 in OSCC samples was higher than that in normal samples（P<0. 001），and its expression was correlated with gender（P=0. 022）and tumor differentiation degree（P<0. 001）. Kaplan-Meier plotter survival analysis showed that the survival rate of YB 1 was low（Log-rank P=0. 012）. Immunohistochemistry，Western blot and qRT-PCR experiments verified that the expression level of YB 1 in OSCC tissues was higher than that of normal tissues. The results of cell experiments showed that knockdown of YB 1 inhibited the malignant biological behaviors such as proliferation，migration and invasion of OSCC cells. Western blot results showed that the knockdown of YB 1 could reduce the protein expression levels of p-PI3K and p-AKT，and inhibit EMT. Conclusion YB 1 is highly expressed in tissues and cells in OSCC，and reveals the important role of the YB 1/PI3K/AKT axis in the pro_ cess of EMT of OSCC，which is expected to become a new tumor marker for early diagnosis and treatment and prog_ nosis evaluation of OSCC.