BACKGROUND Our study aims to evaluate the anti-growth effects of recombinant immunotoxin (IT) anti-c-Met/PE38KDEL on gastric cancer cells, and its mechnisms. METHODS Gastric cancer cells were treated with increasing doses of IT and c-Met protein was quantified by Western blotting. Cell proliferation was determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay (CCK). [3H]-leucine incorporation assay was used to evaluate IT inhibition of protein synthesis. Cell apoptosis was quantified by flow cytometry. Caspase activities were measured using colorimetric protease assays. RESULTS Cell growth and protein synthesis of the gastric cancer cell lines were suppressed by IT in a dose- and time-dependent manner. IT also induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. The apoptosis rates of gastric cancer cell lines MKN-45 and SGC7901 were 19.19% and 27.37%, respectively when treated with 50 ng/ml of IT. There were significant increase of caspase-3 activity at 24 hr of IT treatment (100 ng/ml) (P < 0.01) in these gastric cancer cell lines. CONCLUSIONS IT anti-c-Met/PE38KDEL has anti-growth effects on the gastric cancer cell lines in vitro, and it provides an experimental basis for c-Met-targeted therapy towards in vivo testing.