Objective To explore the potential mechanism of the resistance of Jiangcan（ stiff silkworm） to liver cancer metastasis. Methods Ten Sprague Dawley rats were given 630 mg/100 g solution of stiff silkworm decoction orally

while another ten rats given equal volume of normal saline by gavage. They were treated for 3 days. One hour after the administration on the 3 rd day

blood from heart was drawn to prepare the rat serum containing medicine.Hepa1-6 cells were divided into a control group and an experimental group

and were respectively cultured by the control serum and serum containing stiff silkworm. 5-ethynyl-2-deoxyuridine（ Ed U） staining was used to detect the positive staining rate of Hepa1-6 cells in each group to determine the proliferation; Transwell chamber assay was used to detect cell invasion ability; a blank group was established

and mRNA expressions of E-cadherin and N-cadherin in Hepa1-6 cells were detected by RT-PCR. Results The positive rate of Hepa1-6 Ed U staining in experimental group was lower than that in the control group

and the hepatocarcinoma invasion number was also lower than that in the control group（ P < 0. 01）. Compared with the blank group

E-cadherin mRNA was down-regulated and N-cadherin mRNA were up-regulated in the control group（ P < 0. 05）; compared with the control group

the expression of E-cadherin mRNA increased

and the expression of N-cadherin mRNA decreased in the experimental group（ P <0. 05）. Conclusion Stiff silkworm-containing serum can inhibit the proliferation and invasion of Hepa1-6 in vitro

which may inhibit the metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by attenuating the epithelial mesenchymal transition.