ADAM17 and cervical carcinoma: To elucidate whether gallic acid was able to inhibit cervical cancer cell invasion by decreasing the levels of ADAM17 and EGFR, the expression of ADAM17, Erk/p-Erk and Akt/p-Akt was examined by western blotting in the HeLa and HTB-35 cervical cancer cells following treatment with gallic acid (10, 15, 20 μg/ml) for 24 h.