In the present study, upon silencing HOXA13, the mRNA and protein expression levels of both Snail and MMP-2 were decreased both in vivo and in vitro, and overexpression of HOXA13 reversed this effect, suggesting that HOXA13 promotes the invasion of NPC by upregulating Snail and MMP-2. The gene discussed is HOXA13; the disease is nasopharyngeal carcinoma.