Abstract: Objective To investigate the mechanism of icariin inhibiting proliferation, migration and invasion of MGC803 cells by regulating MTA2. Methods Cell viability of MGC803 cells after treatment with multiple concentrations of icariin was detected by MTT assay. Migration, invasion and the protein expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and MTA2 in MGC803 cells were detected by Transwell and Western blot, respectively. Transfection MTA2 siRNA into MGC803 cells, and detecting cell viability, migration and invasion. Cell viability, migration and invasion of MGC803 cells after transfection of pcDNA-MTA2 combined with icariin were detected by MTT assay and Traswell, respectively. Results Icariin at different concentrations could effectively inhibit viability of MGC803 cells. Migration, invasion and the protein expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and MTA2 of MGC803 cells after treatment with 200μmol/L icariin were decreased. Knockdown MTA2 can inhibit cell viability, migration and invasion. Overexpression of MTA2 partially reverses the inhibitory effect of icariin on the viability, migration and invasion of MGC803 cells. Conclusions Icariin can inhibit proliferation, migration and invasion of gastric cancer by regulating the expression of MTA2, MMP-2 and MMP-9.

Key words: Icariin, metastasis-associated gene2, gastric cancer, migration, invasion