Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of Esketamine (S-KET) on the proliferation,migration,invasion,and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway of liver cancer cells.Methods Hep G2 liver cancer cells were separated into Control group,low,medium,and high concentration treatment groups (S-KET-L,S-KET-M,S-KET-H groups),and high concentration treatment group (S-KET-H+LiCl group);Edu was applied to detect cell proliferation;scratch experiment was applied to detect cell migration;Transwell experiment was applied to detect cell invasion.Western blot was applied to detect the expression of nuclear proliferation antigen markers (Ki-67),Cyclin D1,matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2),matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9),Wnt1,and β-catenin proteins;nude mouse transplanted tumor was applied to detect the effect of Esketamine on the growth of liver cancer transplanted tumors;immunohistochemistry was applied to detect the expression of Wnt1 and β-catenin proteins.Results Compared with the Control group,the Edu positive rate,Ki-67,Cyclin D1,scratch healing rate,number of cell invasions,the expression of MMP-2,MMP-9,Wnt1,and β-catenin proteins in Hep G2 cells in the S-KET-L,S-KET-M,and S-KET-H groups were obviously reduced (P<0.05);compared with the S-KET-H group,the Edu positive rate,Ki-67,Cyclin D1,scratch healing rate,number of cell invasions,the expression of MMP-2,MMP-9,Wnt1,and β-catenin proteins in Hep G2 cells in Hep G2 cells in the S-KET-H+LiCl group were significantly increased (P<0.05);the results of nude mouse tumor transplantation experiment showed that compared with the Control group,the S-KET group mice showed slow tumor growth,reduced tumor mass and volume,and significantly reduced expression of Wnt1 and β-catenin proteins (P<0.05).Conclusion Esketamine can inhibit the proliferation,migration,and invasion of liver cancer cells by inhibiting the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Key words: esketamine, Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, liver cancer cells, proliferation, migration, invasion