Abstract: Objective To investigate the expressions of E-cadherin and N-cadherin in nasopharyngeal tissues and their relationship with pathological features. Methods The expressions of E-cadherin and N-cadherin in 72 NPC samples and 12 samples in patients with chronic nasopharyngitis were detected by immunohistochemical SABC. The relationship between the expressions and pathological features was also analyzed. Results In chronic nasopharyngitis samples, the positive expression of E-cadherin was signifi cantly higher, while that of N-cadherin was signifi cantly lower, than that in NPC samples respectively. The positive expression of E-cadherin and N-cadherin had no signifi cant correlation with gender, age and distal metastasis, but had close relationship with T, N and clinical stage. Besides, E-cadherin expression was negatively correlated with N-cadherin expression. Conclusion Low expression of N-cadherin and aberrant expression of E-cadherin are related with local tumor invasion and lymphatic metastasis.