Abstract: Objective To explore the effects of icariin on the proliferation and apoptosis abilities of human ovarian cancer cells SKOV3 and multi-drug resistant SKVCR cells. Methods Human ovarian cancer cells SKOV3 and multi-drug resistant SKVCR cells were treated with various concentrations of icariin. The inhibitory concentration and the half maximal inhibitory concentration were detected by CCK8 kit. The proliferation and apoptosis abilities of SKOV3 and SKVCR cells were measured by flow cytometry. The migration and invasion abilities of SKOV3 and SKVCR cells were evaluated by Transwell assays. The protein expression level of Caspase-3 was detected by Western blot analysis. Results Icariin significantly suppressed the proliferation abilities of SKOV3 and SKVCR cells in a dose-dependent manner at variant levels from 5-100 μg/mL. SKOV3 and SKVCR cells were treated with 19.5 μg/mL icariin and 48.4 μg/mL icariin (0.8×IC₅₀) for 48 h, respectively. The results showed that the cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities were markedly decreased comparing with control group, and the apoptosis rate was significantly increased as compared with control group (P<0.05). Western blot results indicated that icariin significantly increased the protein expression level of caspase-3 in SKOV3 and SKVCR cells (P<0.05). Conclusion Icariin suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of human ovarian cancer cells. Increasing expression of Caspase-3 might be the mechanism of its enhancement of apoptosis.