Abstract： Objective To evaluate the effect of IL-18 on the expression of E-cadherin,α-SMA and CX3 CL1 in pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs).Methods The human PSC line HPaSteC was routinely cultured and passaged.Five,25,50 and 100 μg/L IL-18 was used to treat PSCs for 72 h and the untreated PSCs were used as control.Treated and untreated cells were both collected,and RT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect mRNA and protein expression of E-cadherin,α-SMA and CX3CL1 respectively.Results The mRNA expressions of E-cadherin in control group and 5,25,50 and 100 μg/L IL-18 treated group were 1.03 ± 0.17,0.77 ±0.15,0.89 ± 0.12,0.54 ± 0.11 and 0.46 ± 0.06.The mRNA expression of α-SMA were 1.03 ± 0.19,0.85 ± 0.14,1.33 ± 0.22,1.60 ± 0.14 and 1.94 ± 0.09;The mRNA expression of CX3CL1 were 1.01 ±0.08,0.88 ±0.25,0.86 ±0.17,1.58 ±0.26 and 1.83 ±0.13.The mRNA expression of E-cadherin in IL-18 treated group were down-regulated,while the mRNA expression of α-SMA and CX3CL1 were up-regulated,and the differences between control and IL-18 100 μg/L treated group were statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05 or ＜ 0.01).The protein expression of E-cadherin in control group and 5,25,50 and 100 μg/L IL-18 treated group were 1.00 ±0.14,1.14 ±0.04,1.14 ±0.07,0.85 ±0.08 and 0.80 ±0.06.The protein expression of α-SMA were 1.00 ± 0.02,0.77 ± 0.07,1.29 ± 0.02,1.59 ± 0.07 and 1.70 ± 0.02;The protein expression of CX3CL1 were 1.00 ± 0.05,1.03 ± 0.05,1.37 ± 0.06,1.46 ± 0.18 and 1.45 ± 0.12.The protein expression of E-cadherin was down-regulated but no significant differences were observed among different groups.The protein expression of α-SMA was up-regulated and the differences between control group and 25,50 and 100 μg/L IL-18 treated groups were statistically significant (all P ＜0.01).The protein expression of CX3CL1 was up-regulated and the differences between control group and 100 ng/ml IL-18 treated group were statistically significant (P ＜0.05).Conclusions IL-18 can activate PSCs and up-regulate the expression of chemokine CX3CL1.