OBJECTIVE：To study the effects of gentiopicroside on the apo ptosis o f human pancreatic cancer cells PANC- 1，and to explore its mechanism from the perspective of IL- 6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. METHODS ：Using PANC- 1 cells as model ， the proliferation inhibition rate of cells was tested by MTT assay after treated with 0（negative contro ），2，4，8，16，32，64，128 mg/L gentiopicroside for 72 h and IC 50 were calculated. The cells were divided into negative control group ，gemcitabine group （positive control，4 mg/L）and gentiopicroside low-concentration ，medium-concentration and high-concentration groups （15，30，60 mg/L）. After cultured for 1，3，5，7 d，Trypan blue exclusion staining was used to count the survival cell ，and the growth of cells was investigated. After cultured for 72 h，colony formation assay was used to observe colony formation rate of cells ；the apoptotic rate of cells was detected by Hoechst 33258 staining；the mRNA and protein expressions of IL- 6，JAK2，STAT3 in cells were detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting assay. RESULTS ：4-28 mg/L gentiopicroside could inhibit the proliferation of cells （P＜0.05 or P＜ 0.01），in concentration dependent trend ；IC50 was 9.54 mg/L. Compared with negative control group ，survival cell count （cultured from 3，5，7 d），mRNA and protein expressions of IL- 6，JAK2 and STAT 3 in cells were decreased significantly in gemcitabine group ， gentiopicroside medium-concentration and high-concentration groups （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01），while the apoptotic rate was increased significantly （P＜0.01）. The colony formation rate of cellswere decreased significantly in gemcitabine group and gentiopicroside high-concentration group （P＜0.01）. mail：hb.gz@163.com Compared with gemcitabine group ，there was no statistical significance in above indexes of gentiopicroside high- 6716008。 concentration group （P＞0.05）. CONC LUSIONS：30，60 mg/L gentiopicroside could inhibit the proliferation and induce apoptosis of PANC- 1 cells，and 60 mg/L gentiopicroside is similar to gemcitabine in the effects. Its mechanism may be related to inhibiting the activation of IL- 6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway.