ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of human caudal-related homeobox 2 (Cdx2) gene expression on human gastric carcinoma cell line MGC-803.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>pCMV-Cdx2-HA eukaryotic expression plasmid was constructed by using DNA recombinant method. The MGC-803 cells were divided into 4 groups: non-transfected, transfected with pCMV-HA, transfected with pCMV-GAPDH-HA, transfected with pCMV-Cdx2-HA. Cdx2 gene and its protein expression was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot techniques respectively. The effects of Cdx2 overexpression on the growth of MGC-803 cells in vitro was assessed by measuring MTT, flow cytometry and transmission electron microscopy analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In MGC-803 cells transfected with pCMV-Cdx2-HA, cell proliferation was significantly suppressed, the cells was ultrastructurally destroyed, cell cycle progression was blocked in G0/G1 and apoptosis rate was higher (P<0.05) in comparison with non-transfected cells or cells transfected with empty vector.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>It indicated that Cdx2 gene can suppress the growth of gastric carcinoma and may save as a novel therapeutic target.</p>