To investigate the effects of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) infection on the expression of survivin and cell cycle in human tongue squamous carcinoma TSCCa cells.,The proliferation of TSCCa cells infected with NDV in vitro was evaluated by means of MTT assay, and survivin expression in the infected cells was detected using RT-PCR and Western blotting. Flow cytometry was performed to assess the changes in the cell apoptosis, cell cycle and cell proliferation index (PI) of the cells.,NDV infection resulted in decreased survivin expression and increased apoptosis of TSCCa cells, with reduced cell percentage in G2/M and S phases and lowered PI of the cells, showing significant differences from those of the negative control cells (P<0.05).,NDV infection can inhibit survivin expression, affect the cell cycle of TSCCa cells and induce their apoptosis.