Objective  To investigate the effects of transfection of wild type hepatocyte cell adhesion molecule (hepaCAM) gene on the growth and metastasis of bladder cancer BIU-87 cells.   Methods  Plasmids pEGFPN2-hepaCAM and pEGFPN2 were respectively transfected into BIU-87 cells with Lipofectamine2000 to establish BIU-87 cells with stable over-expression of hepaCAM. MTT assay was used to observe the proliferation of hepaCAM transfection cells

pEGFPN2 transfection cells and untransfected cells. The mRNA expressions of hepaCAM and VEGF before and after the stable transfection were detected by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The protein level of VEGF in the above cell groups was analyzed by Western blot analysis.   Results  MTT assay showed that the proliferation of BIU-87 cells transfected with wild type of hepaCAM was markedly inhibited compared with that of control groups (P0.05). There was no expression of hepaCAM mRNA in BIU-87 cells

but the expression of hepaCAM mRNA of BIU-87 cells transfected with hepaCAM gene was markedly increased (P0.05). The expression of VEGF mRNA (0.527±0.031) in BIU-87 cells transfected with hepaCAM was markedly inhibited as compared with that of transfected with empty vector cells (0.750±0.040) and untransfected cells (0.803±0.042

P0.05). The results of Western blotting showed the protein expression of VEGF in BIU-87 cells transfected with hepaCAM (0.057±0.015) was markedly inhibited as compared with transfected with empty vector cells (0.280±0.036) and untransfected cells (0.263±0.032

P0.05).   Conclusion  Transfection of hepaCAM gene significantly inhibits the cell proliferation

and VEGF expressions at mRNA and protein levels in BIU-87 cells. hepaCAM gene might play an important role in the proliferation

invasion and metastasis of bladder cancer．