Objective    To investigate the expression of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase B (Akt) and their role in pathogenesis in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.     Methods    Immunohistochemical S-P method was used to detect the expression of PI3K and p-Akt in 40 paraffin-embedded human laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma， 20 cases of polyp  of vocal cords and 20 cases of laryngeal papilloma. All the samples were stained by HE method to confirm their pathologic characteristics. Positive rates of PI3K and p-Akt were evaluated by microscopy.     Results    PI3K and p-Akt showed low expression in the polyp tissues of vocal cords

while they were of significantly higher expression in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (P0.01). Papilloma cells revealed a high expression of PI3K

but low expression of p-Akt. The poor differentiation of cancer cells correlated well with the low expression of PI3K and p-Akt (P0.01).There was a positive relationship between PI3K and p-Akt in the same sample（r=0.687， P0.01）.     Conclusion    PI3K and p-Akt express highly in laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas

which is related to the pathological differentiation and pathogenesis of the tumor.