【Objective】 To establish snail gene lentiviral vector and explore its effect in EMT (epithelial-mesenchymal transition) of caco2 colon cancer cells. 【Methods】 According to the principle of Gateway technology

the snail expressing plasmid was established and imbedded into lentiviral vector. We transfected Lenti-hSnail1-eGFP/Neo and Lenti-eGFP/Neo (vector control) into caco2 colon cancer cells

thus

two stable cells were established: caco2-snail and caco2-vc. To validate the effect of snail expressing plasmid in other colon cancer cell lines

we also performed transient transfection of snail expressing vector and empty vector in LoVo cells. The expression level of Snail and E-cadherin were detected in these cell lines. Wound-healing assay and transwell chamber assay were performed to evaluate the migration and invasive ability of these cells. 【Results】 Snail gene lentiviral vector was successfully established and was proved by gene sequencing. Significant gene and protein expression of snail can be detected in snail expressing cells. The levels of E-cadherin expression was obviously down-regulated in snail expressing cells compared with control cells. Snail promoted migration and invasion of colon cancer cells in wound-healing assay and transwell chamber assay. 【Conclusion】 Snail gene lentiviral vector is a stable and reliable tool for investigating EMT

and snail regulated the EMT of colon cancer cells by promoting cellular migration and invasion