[Abstract] Objective: To investigate the effect of apatinib (APA) combined with cisplatin (DDP) on the proliferation, invasion and migration capacity of gastric carcinoma (GC) cells and its molecular mechanism. Methods: Cancer and para-cancerous tissue samples resected from 50 GC patients, who were surgically treated in Wuwei People's Hospital from January 2016 to June 2019, were collected for this study; in addition, GC cell lines MGC803 and SGC7901 were also collected. qPCR was used to detect the HMGA2 expression in tissues and mRNA expressions of molecules related to cell proliferation, migration and invasion in GC cell lines. MGC803 and SGC7901 cells were transfected with pcHMGA2 by liposome transfection technology. After treatment with DDP and APA at different concentrations, the cells were divided into NC, pcHMGA2, pcHMGA2+DDP and pcHMGA2+DDP+APA groups. Protein expression of HMGA2 in GC cells was detected by Western blotting, and proliferation, migration and invasion of the cells were detected by MTT and Transwell assay, respectively. Results: The mRNA expression of HMGA2 in GC tissues was higher than that in para-cancerous tissues (P<0.05), and the survival rate of GC patients in the high expression group was significantly reduced (P<0.01). DDP significantly inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of MGC803 and SGC7901 cells (all P<0.01); the proliferation, invasion and migration of MGC803 and SGC7901 cells in DDP+APA group significantly decreased (all P<0.01) as compared with DDP group; APA significantly enhanced the inhibitory effect of DDP on HMGA2 expression in GC cells (P<0.01); APA enhanced the anticancer activity of DDP against GC by down-regulating HMGA2 expression. Conclusion: APA promotes the anticancer activity of DDP against GC, and its molecular mechanism is the promotion of the inhibitory effect of DDP on HMGA2 expression.