Objective To investigate the expression of Wnt-inducible secreted protein 2 (WISP2) in gastric cancer and its effect on epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Methods A total of 85 specimens of tumor tissues and adjacent tissues of gastric cancer patients from March 2016 to May 2018 were selected. The WISP2 expression in gastric cancer tissues and adjacent tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. The WISP2-shRNA and NC-shRNA stable cell lines were constructed, and the effect of WISP2 down-regulation on migration of gastric cancer cells was analyzed by scratch wound healing assay. Transwell was used to detected the effect of WISP2 down-regulation on the invasion of gastric cancer cells. The effects of WISP2 down-regulation on the expression of E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Vimentin in gastric cancer cells were detected by western blotting. Results The positive expression rate of WISP2 in gastric cancer tissues (61.2%) was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues (11.8%) (P?