Purpose: p33ING1b, as a candidate tumour suppressor gene, has been found to be expressed a proportion of oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs), however, its clinicopathological significance is not studied yet. Our aim was to investigate association of p33ING1b expression with clinicopathological variables and particularly interesting new cysteine-histidine rich protein (PINCH) in OSCCs. Methods: p33ING1b expression was immumohistochemically examined in 20 normal oral mucosa specimens and 49 OSCCs. Results: Normal squamous cells showed only p33ING1b nuclear expression (no cytoplasmic expression), with a rate of 90% positive cases. While 24% of OSCCs appeared cytoplasmic expression (11 of them with weak nuclear staining) and the rest tumours (76%) were negative for p33 ING1b. Furthermore, the cases having lymph node metastasis showed a higher frequency of positive cytoplasmic expression than those without metastasis (P = 0.03). The p33ING1b cytoplasmic expression was positively related to PINCH expression (P = 0.04), the cases positive for both proteins had a high rate of the metastasis (P = 0.03). Conclusions: The transfer of p33ING1b protein from the nucleus to the cytoplasm may result in loss of normal cellular function of the protein, which might play a role in the tumourigenesis and metastasis of OSCCs. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.