The chief aim of this study was to correlate expression of the nasopharyngeal epithelium protein (CCDC19) with clinicopathological characteristics and survival prognosis in lung squamous cancer patients. Using real-time PCR, we detected the mRNA expression of CCDC19 in lung squamous cell carcinoma tissues and lung tissue. CCDC19 mRNA expression was confirmed to be downregulated compared to normal lung tissues. Furthermore, we analyzed CCDC19 protein expression using immunohistochemical analysis and observed CCDC19 protein in 136 paraffin-embedded squamous cell carcinoma tissues and 47normal paraffin-embedded lung tissues. CCDC19 protein was downregulated in lung squamous carcinoma, but overexpressed in normal lung tissues. Furthermore, correlation between the level of CCDC19 expression and clinical features, including survival prognosis was analyzed. Decreased expression of CCDC19 protein was significantly associated with N stage (P = 0.024) and gender (P = 0.022). Furthermore, decreased CCDC19 expression was associated with poorer overall survival rates than high expression of CCDC19 (P = 0.01). Multivariate analysis showed expression of CCDC19 to be an independent prognostic indicator of survival. Our findings demonstrate that decreased CCDC19 expression facilitates disease progression and poor outcome in lung squamous cell carcinoma patients. IJCEP Copyright © 2018.