OBJECTIVE: To investigate the inhibitory effect of ampelopsin(AMP) on the migration and invasion ability of colorectal cancer LoVo cells with dermcidin(DCD) over-expression. METHODS: DCD in LoVo cells was up-regulated by plasmid transient transfection. Western blot method was used to detect the expression of DCD in transfected LoVo cells. Those cells were divided into empty vector group, normal control group, positive drug group (5-fluorouracil, 0.25 μg/mL) and AMP group (300 μmol/L). Except LoVo cells transfected with empty vector were adopted in empty vector group, LoVo cells transfected with DCD were adopted in other groups. The effects of AMP on migration ability of LoVo cells were studied by Transwell chamber migration and scratch experiments. The invasion ability of LoVo cells was studied by Transwell invasion experiment. RESULTS: Western blot analysis showed that compared with blank control group and empty vector group, the protein expression of DCD in DCD group were increased significantly (P<0.01). Results of migration and invasion experiments showed that compared with empty vector group, the number of transmembrane cells and the rate of cell migration were increased significantly in normal control group (P<0.01). Compared with normal control group, the number of transmembrane cells and the rate of cell migration were decreased significantly in positive drug group and AMP group (P<0.01); inhibitory effects on migration and invasion of AMP were better than 5-fluorouracil (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Over-expressed DCD could promote the migration and invasion of tumor cells. AMP can significantly inhibit migration and invasion ability of LoVo cells with DCD over-expression.