OBJECTIVE： To study the effects of propofol on invasion of hepatoma carcinoma HepG2 cell. METHODS： MTT method was used to detect the viability of HepG2 cells which were cultured with 0 （negative control）， 1， 3 and 10 μg/ml propofol for 48 h. The ability of cell invasion was detect by Tranaswell method. The phosphorylation level of nuclear factor-κB p65 （NF-κB p65） and the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 2 （MMP-2）， MMP-9， E-cadhherin and Snail were detected by Western blot method. RESULTS： Compared with negative control， 1， 3， 10 μg/ml propofol inhibited the cell viability and invasion， down-regulated the expression of Snail and the phosphorylation level of NF-κB p65， and up-regulated the expression of E-cadherin （P＜0.01）. 3， 10 μg/ml propofol down-regulated the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 （P＜0.01）. Above effects depended on drug concentration （P＜0.01）. CONCLUSIONS： Propofol can suppress HepG2 invasion， which might be related to the inhibition of NF-κB /Snail signal pathway.