Objective To investigate the effects of interleukin-17 (IL-17) on the cell proliferation, apoptosis and migration of human laryngeal carcinoma Hep-2 cells.Methods IL-17 was transiently transfected into Hep-2 cells, and at the same time empty vector group (pEGFP-N1) and normal control group were set up.The efficiency of transfection was evaluated by fluorescence microscope, and the mRNA and protein expressions of IL-17 were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting.The proliferation of cells was detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) method, and the apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry.The migration ability was detected by wound-healing assay and Transwell assay.ResultsHep-2 cells transfected with empty vector pEGFP-N1 and IL-17 showed green fluorescence under the fluorescence microscope.Hep-2 cells expressed IL-17 at both mRNA and protein levels after transfection with IL-17.Compared with the normal control group, the proliferation of IL-17 transfected Hep-2 cells was significantly inhibited after 48 h transfection (0.34±0.03 vs.0.46±0.04, P=0.006).The apoptotic rate of IL-17 transfected cells was higher than that of normal control group (26.80%±0.80% vs.2.90%±0.31%, P=0.000).According to the wound-healing assay, compared with the normal control group, the scratch width of IL-17 transfected cells was significantly greater (1.59±0.01 vs.1.36±0.01, P=0.000).Transwell migration experiment showed that the migration of IL-17 transfected cells was significantly lower than that of the normal control group (26.33±2.08 vs.49.33±1.53, P=0.000).Conclusion IL-17 can inhibit the proliferation of human laryngeal carcinoma Hep-2 cells, reduce their migration ability and enhance their apoptosis ability.Therefore, IL-17 may inhibit the occurrence and development of laryngeal carcinoma through a variety of mechanisms.