Overall, to the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to report that IGF-I induces EMT, thereby upregulating ZEB2 expression, and that a potential PI3K/Akt-GSK-3β-ZEB2 signaling pathway is involved in IGF-I-induced EMT in BGC-823 gastric cancer cells. The gene discussed is ZEB2; the disease is gastric cancer.