Objective To investigate the effect of cryptotanshinone on the proliferation and migration of hu⁃man hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma through in vitro experiments. Methods Different concentrations（0 μM，2.5 μM，5 μM，and 10 μM）of cryptotanshinone was used to treat FaDu cells. Cell cloning，wound healing as⁃say，and Transwell assay were performed to analyze the effect of cryptotanshinone on cell proliferation and migra⁃tion. Western blot was used to measure the expression levels of cyclin- and EMT-related proteins. Results Com⁃pared with the control group，cryptotanshinone effectively inhibited the proliferation and clone-forming abilities of FaDu cells in a dose-dependent manner（P<0.01）. After treatment with cryptotanshinone for 24 h，the treatment group had significantly lower wound healing ability and cell migration ability compared with the control group in a dose-dependent manner. After cryptotanshinone treatment，the expression of Akt，CDK4，cyclin D，and vimentin was significantly down-regulated. Conclusion Cryptotanshinone can effectively inhibit the proliferation and migra⁃tion of human pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma FaDu cells，and the mechanism of its action may be related to its down-regulating the Akt，CDK4，cyclin D，and vimentin protein expression，thereby inhibiting cells and show⁃ing strong cytotoxicity.