AIM:To evaluate the effect of antisense vascularendothelial growth factor(VEGF)RNA(PCMV-FGEV)transfection on the profile of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)SMMC-7721 cells in vitro and in vivo.METHODS:SMMC-7721 cells were transfectedwith PCMV-FGEV antisense,PCMV-VEGF sense andempty vector plasmid encapsulated by lipofectamineas antisense group,sense group and control grouprespectively.The positive cell clones were selectedwith G418.The stable transfection and expressionof VEGF in the cells were determined by RT-PCR andimmunohistochemistry.Cell proliferation was observedby MTT assay.FACS analysis was used to determine theeffect of PCMV-FGEV transfection on cell apoptosis.Thegrowth of transfected cells in Wvo was also observed innude mice.RESULTS:VEGF expression was reduced in SMMC-7721transfected with PCMV-FGEV,which was confirmed byRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.No effect of PCMV-FGEV transfection was found on cell proliferation andcell apoptosis of SMMC-7721 in vitro.The growth of cellstransfected with PCMV-FGEV was slow in nude miceand accompanied with obvious apoptosis.The latenttime of tumors in the antisense group was 25.0±1.8d,which was longer than that in sense and controlgroups(F=19.455,P<0.01).The average tumor weightin antisense group(0.96 g±0.28 g)was the smallestamong the three groups(F=21.501,P<0.01).CONCLUSION:The expression of VEGF can be inhibitedby antisense PCMV-FGEV.Antisense PCMV-FGEV has no effect on cell proliferation and apoptosis of SMMC-7721in vitro but can inhibit tumor growth and induce cellapoptosis in vivo. AIM: To evaluate the effect of antisense vascularendothelial growth factor (VEGF) RNA (PCMV-FGEV) transfection on the profile of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) SMMC-7721 cells in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: SMMC-7721 cells were transfected with PCMV- FGEV antisense, PCMV-VEGF sense andempty vector plasmid encapsulated by lipofectamine as antisense group, sense group and control group separately as positive. Positive cell clones were selected with G418. The stable transfection and expression of VEGF in the cells were determined by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Cell proliferation was observedby MTT assay. FACS analysis was used to determine the effect of PCMV-FGEV transfection on cell apoptosis. The growth of transfected cells in Wvo was also observed innude mice .RESULTS: VEGF expression was reduced in SMMC-7721transfected with PCMV-FGEV, which was was by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. No effect of PCMV-FGEV transfection was found on cell proliferation and cell apoptosis of SMMC-7721 in vitro. The growth of cells transfected with PCMV-FGEV was slow in nude mice and accompanied with apparent apoptosis. The latent time of tumors in the antisense group was 25.0 ± 1.8 d, which was longer than that in sense and control groups (F = 19.455, P <0.01). Tumor weightin antisense group (0.96 g ± 0.28 g) was the smallestamong the three groups (F = 21.501, P <0.01) .CONCLUSION: The expression of VEGF can be inhibited by antisense PCMV- FGEV.Antisense PCMV- FGEV has no effect on cell proliferation and apoptosis of SMMC-7721 in vitro but can inhibit tumor growth and induce cellapoptosis in vivo.