ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of kaempferol on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of human hepatoma Bel-7402 cells and related molecular mechanism. MethodsHepatoma Bel-7402 cells cultured in vitro were randomly divided into control group and low-, middle-, and high-concentration experimental groups. The experimental groups were treated with low-, middle-, and high-concentration kaempferol (25, 50, and 100 μmol/L), and the control group was treated with an equal volume of dimethyl sulfoxide. CCK-8 assay was used to observe the effect of kaempferol on the viability of Bel-7402 cells; plate colony formation assay was used to evaluate the effect of kaempferol on cell colony formation ability; wound healing assay and Transwell chamber were used to observe the effect of kaempferol on cell migration and invasion; Western blot was used to measure the expression of apoptosis- and cycle-related proteins. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison between multiple groups, and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups. ResultsAfter 24 hours of treatment, the cell viability was 100.00%±2.72% in the control group and 75.70%±2.42%, 62.79%±2.45%, and 43.41%±2.11%, respectively, in the low-, middle-, and high-concentration experimental groups, and compared with the control group, the experimental groups had a significant reduction in cell viability (all P＜0.05). The number of cell colonies was 923.3±35.2 in the control group and 682.7±24.4, 464.0±22.0, and 327.3±14.0, respectively, in the low-, middle-, and high-concentration experimental groups, and compared with the control group, the experimental groups had a significant reduction in cell colony formation ability (all P＜0.05). After 24 hours of treatment, the relative migration rate was 100.00%±1.11% in the control group and 63.33%±1.16%, 51.72%±3.23%, and 37.18%±2.71%, respectively, in the low-, middle-, and high-concentration experimental groups, and the number of transmembrane cells was 212.0±3.0 in the control group and 134.0±2.0, 71.0±2.0, and 34.0±1.0, respectively, in the low-, middle-, and high-concentration experimental groups; compared with the control group, the experimental groups had significant reductions in relative migration rate and number of transmembrane cells (all P＜0.05). After 48 hours of treatment, compared with the control group, the low-, middle-, and high-concentration experimental groups had a significant reduction in the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 (all P＜0.05), a significant increase in the expression of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax (all P＜0.05), and a significant reduction in the expression of C＜italic/＞yclinD1 (all P＜005). ConclusionKaempferol can inhibit the proliferation, migration, and invasion of human hepatoma Bel-7402 cells and promote the apoptosis of such cells, possibly by regulating the apoptosis proteins Bax and Bcl-2 and downregulating the expression of CyclinD1.