In the present study, a short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) eukaryotic expression vector targeting CXCR4 was constructed and transfected into 293T cells in vitro. The most efficacious interfering vector was selected and transfected into the highly invasive breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell line, and the effect of silencing the CXCR4 gene on the proliferation, adhesion and migration of 231 cells was observed in vitro. Here, CXCR4 is linked to breast carcinoma.