Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs),which present in the non-specific immune system of organism and participate in the innate host defense of each species.CecropinXJ,a cationic antimicrobial peptide,possesses potent anticancer activity and acts preferentially on cancer cells instead of normal cells,but the mechanism of cancer cell death induced by cecropinXJ remains largely unknown.The objective of this study was performed to investigate the cytoskeleton-disrupting effects of cecropinXJ on human esophageal carcinoma cell line Eca109,using scanning electron microscopy observation,fluorescence imaging,cell migration and invasion assays,western blotting and qRT-PCR analysis.The electronic microscope and fluorescence imaging observation suggested that cecropinXJ could result in morphological changes and induce damage to microtubules,actin of Eca109 cells in a dose dependent manner.The cell migration and invasion assays demonstrated that cecropinXJ could inhibit migration and invasion of tumor cells.Western blotting and qRT-PCR analysis showed that there was obvious correlation between microtubule depolymerization and actin polymerization,which was induced by cecropinXJ.Moreover,cecropinXJ might also cause decreased gene expression of α-actin,β-actin,γ-actin,α-tubulin and β-tubulin in a concentration-dependent and time-dependent manners.In summary,the present study indicates that cecropinXJ triggers cytotoxicity in Eca109 cells through causing cytoskeleton-destruction and regulating gene expression of cytoskeleton proteins.This CecropinXJ-mediated cytoskeleton-destruction effect is instrumental in our understanding of the detail action of antimicrobial peptides in human cancer cells and CecropinXJ might be a potential therapeutic agent for curing cancer in the future.