Abstract: Objective To establish a drug-resistant tongue cancer cell line and analyze its cancer stem cell（CSC）characteristics. Methods Tongue cancer cell line TCA-8113 was induced by adriamycin（ADM）and used to establish the drug-resistant cell line TCA-8113/ADM.Basic characteristics of both the parental cell line TCA-8113 and the drug-resistant cell line TCA-8113/ADM were analyzed and compared， including cell growth，doubling time，cell cycle， resistance index（RI），single-cell culture，colony formation and formation of sphere cells. Results The growth pattern of TCA-8113/ADM cells was cobblestone-like， with cultures showing sig-nificantly more atypical cells than those of parental cells.TCA-8113/ADM cells had an RI of 22，and their rates of cell proliferation， cell doubling，colony formation and sphere cell formation were slower than those of the parental cells. Conclusion Sustained incre-mental exposure to low concentrations of ADM can induce a drug-resistant tongue cancer cell line，but its CSC characteristics are not obvious.

Key words: Tongue cancer, Drug-resistant, Cancer stem cell, Drug-resistant inducement, Characteristic