There is increasing evidence that bisphosphonates have direct antitumor effects in vivo in addition to their therapeutic antiresorptive properties. Bisphosphonates inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of many cancer cell lines. They also exhibit anti-invasive properties in vitro and in vivo. We have previously shown that a novel non-nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate inhibited tumor growth of A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells. In the present study, we investigated the antitumor properties of three nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates on A431 cells in vitro. We first compared the antiproliferative effects of pamidronate, alendronate and neridronate. Then, by matrigel invasion assay, the effect of alendronate on A431 cell invasiveness was studied. All three bisphosphonates were found to inhibit cell proliferation dose- and time-dependently. The most potent molecule was alendronate. The invasion test demonstrated that alendronate also inhibited cell invasion in a Boyden chamber. These data suggest that alendronate may have beneficial effects in the treatment of carcinomas exhibiting important angiogenesis.