Objective To study the role of epiregulin, a member of epidermal growth factor (EGF) family, in the metastasis of salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) cell. Methods Thirty paraffin-embeded archival tissue samples were used to examine epiregulin expression in SACC tissue by immunohistochemistry SP methods. Its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed afterwards. Results (1)Epiregulin expressed broadly in cytoplasm or nuclear compartments. (2)The epiregulin positive stain rate in lung metastasis-group (15 cases) was 86.7%(13/15), its average H-score is 1.26±0.65, whereas for non-metastasis group, the positive stain rate was 33.3%(5/15), and H-score was 0.48±0.25 on average. Epiregulin expressed higher in stage Ⅲ and Ⅳ than in clinical stages of Ⅰand Ⅱ. (3)No correlation was found between epiregulin expression and survival. Conclusions Epiregulin expression may be associated with SACC lung metastasis. Studies of large sample size to further confirm the findings of this pilot study is warranted.