It has been shown that interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) is elevated in many solid tumors. The elevated IFP in tumors is responsible, at least in part, for the poor blood supply, inadequate delivery of therapeutic agents to solid tumors and poor treatment response in patients. The present study was carried out to examine alterations in malignant phenotypes in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells subjected to conditions mimicking IFP and to identify the relevant molecular mechanisms. We investigated tumor cell proliferation and invasion using SCC-4 and SCC-9 cells subjected to an increased extracellular pressure of 0, 15 and 30 mmHg in vitro. The results revealed that the increased IFP resulted in a marked increase in cancer cell proliferation, survival and invasion in vitro and altered the expression of >1,800 genes involved in invasion and metastasis, the heat shock pathway, the p38 and JNK signaling pathway, apoptosis and the cell growth and differentiation signaling pathway. These results suggest the important potential clinical application of measuring IFP, which can be used as a generic marker of prognosis and response to therapy.