Abstract: AIM: To investigate the effect of RNA methylase NSUN2 on the invasion and migration ability of gastric cancer cells, and to explore its mechanism. METHODS: The slow-transfected virus that inhibited the NSUN2 gene and the no-load virus that was negative control were transfected into gastric cancer SGC7901 cell lines and MGC803 cell lines, respectively. Real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression of NSUN2 in two groups, TRANSWELL and scratch experiments were used to study the effects of NSUN2 on cell migration and invasion, Western blot was used to detect the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) molecules in the two groups of cells Marker (E-Cadherin, N-Cadherin) protein expression. RESULTS:Compared with the control group, the expression of RNA methylase NSUN2 mRNA and protein in the interference group decreased, the number of transmembrane cells decreased, the migration distance decreased, the expression of N-Cadherin protein decreased, and the expression of E-Cadherin protein increased. All differences have statistical significance.CONCLUSION: Inhibition of NSUN2 gene expression can reduce the invasion and migration of gastric cancer cell lines SGC7901 and MGC803, and the mechanism is to inhibit the EMT process.

Key words: gastric cancer, RNA methylase NSUN2, migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition