Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of miRNA-1301 on the proliferation and migration of oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC) cells. Methods Human normal oral epithelial cell line(HGF-1) and oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line(YD-38, MK-1) were purchased from American typical culture library(ATCC). The level of miR-1301 in the oral squamous cell carcinoma tissue and cancer cells was detected by real-time quantitative PCR(RT-PCR), and the proliferation of OSCC cells after regulating the expression of miR-1301 was detected by cell counting kit-8(CCK-8). Scratch healing test was used to detect the migration ability of cells after regulating the level of miR-1301. Results The level of miR-1301 in YD-38(2.25±0.24) and MK-1(3.32±0.85) of OSCC cells were decreased significantly compared with HGF-1(4.32±0.86), P<0.05. The cell proliferation level in the miR-1301 group was 0.26±0.02, 0.32±0.03 and 0.42±0.04, and that in the miR-NC group was 0.30±0.02, 0.52±0.05 and 0.89±0.07 respectively. After transfection of miR-1301 mimics, the cell proliferation was significantly decreased(P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the two groups at 12 h(P>0.05). The migration of YD-38 cells was significantly decreased after transfection of miR-1301 mimics compared with the miR-NC group(P<0.05), however, transfection of miR-1301 inhibitor had the opposite effect. Conclusion MiR-1301 is significantly down regulated in OSCC tissues and cells. Transfection of miR-1301 can inhibit the proliferation and migration of OSCC cells. MiR-1301 may provide a new molecular target for the treatment of OSCC.