['To investigate the association between plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-2 expression and invasive potential in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells.', 'The HCC cell lines with high, low, and non-metastatic potentials, namely MHCC97-H, MHCC97-L, and SMMC-7721 respectively, were cultured in vitro. Matrigel invasion assay and Western blot of PAI-2 protein expression were conducted.', "The number of invaded cells in MHCC97-L was significantly higher than that in SMMC-7721 (P=0.005), whereas that in MHCC97-H was higher than in MHCC97-L (P=0.017) and SMMC-7721 (P=0.001). Contrarily, PAI-2 protein expression was gradually reducing from SMMC-7721, MHCC97-L, to MHCC97-H (MHCC97-H vs. MHCC97-L, P<0.001; MHCC97-H vs. SMMC-7721, P=0.001; MHCC97-L vs. SMMC-7721, P=0.001). The Pearson's correlation analysis revealed a significant negative association between invaded cell number and PAI-2 expression (r=-0.892, P=0.001)."] Is expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor-2 negatively associated with invasive potential in hepatocellular carcinoma cells?