The roles of intermediate conductance Ca2＋-activated K＋ channel （IKCal） in the pathogene- sis of hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） were investigated. Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of IKCal protein in 50 HCC and 20 para-carcinoma tissue samples. Real-time PCR was used to detect the transcription level of IKCal mRNA in 13 HCC and 11 para-carcinoma tissue samples. The MTT assay was used to measure the function of IKCal in human HCC cell line HepG2 in vitro. TRAM-34, a specific blocker of IKCal, was used to intervene with the function of IKCal. As compared with para-carcinoma tissue, an over-expression of IKCal protein was detected in HCC tissue samples （P〈0.05）. The mRNA expression level of IKCal in HCC tissues was 2.17 times higher than that in para-carcinoma tissues. The proliferation of HepG2 cells was suppressed by TRAM-34 （0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 pxnol/L） in vitro （P〈0.05）. Our results suggested that IKCal may play a role in the proliferation of human HCC, and IKCal blockers may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for HCC.
