Abstract: Objective To explore the relationship between the expression of sex determining gene box 9 (SOX9), Beclin1 and the prognosis in patients with oral cancer. Methods A total of 38 oral cancer patients admitted to the Baoding First Central Hospital of Hebei Province from May 2017 to May 2018 were selected, and 38 oral cancer tissue specimens and 30 adjacent tissue specimens were selected to detect the expression levels of SOX9 and Beclin1 in the patients. The relationship between the expression of SOX9 and Beclin1 and the clinicopathological factors was analyzed, and the risk factors affecting the prognosis of oral cancer were identified by COX. The relationship between SOX 9 and Beclin1 and the prognosis of oral cancer was analyzed. Results The positive expression rates of SOX9 and Beclin1 in the oral cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in the adjacent normal tissues (P< 0. 05). The positive expressions of SOX9 and Beclin1 were not associated with age and gender (P > 0. 05), but were correlated with tumor stages, degree of differentiation and lymphatic metastasis (P< 0. 05). Stepwise Cox regression analysis was used to analyze the prognostic factors of oral cancer. The results showed that tumor stages, lymph node metastasis, SOX9, and Beclin1 expressions were independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of oral cancer patients (P< 0. 05). Patients with positive SOX9 expression had a progression-free survival of 10- 18 months, with an average of (12. 5 ± 2. 4) months, and patients with negative SOX9 expression had a progression-free survival of 14-23 months, with an average of (17. 5 ± 3. 1) months. Patients with positive expression of Beclin1 had a progression-free survival of 11-18 months, with an average of (13. 7 ± 2. 4) months, and patients with negative Beclin1 expression had a progression-free survival of 13-22 months, with an average of (15. 7 ± 3. 1) months. Patients with positive expression of SOX9 and Beclin1 had a significantly lower progression-free survival than those with negative expression (c²=7.969、3.315，P＜0.05）. Conclusion SOX9 and Beclin1 were positively expressed in patients with oral cancer, and their expression was closely related to the prognosis. The patients with higher expressions of SOX9 and Beclin1 in oral cancer had worse prognoses.

Key words: oral cancer, sex determining gene box 9, autophagy gene Beclin-1, prognostic outcome