Objective To observed the effect of IL-1β on expression of caudal-related homeobox gene 1 (CDX1) mRNA and mucoprotein 2 (MUC2) mRNA in cultured human gastric epithelial cells GES-1, and to investigate the underlying signal transduction pathways. Methods ①GES-1 cell was activated with IL-1β of different concentrations and time, the expression levels of CDX1 mRNA and MUC2 mRNA were detected by using real-time PCR. ②GES-1 cell was pretreated with PDTC, a NF-κB inhibitor, for 1 h prior to the addition of IL-1β, then the expressions of CDX1 mRNA and MUC2 mRNA were measured. Results Both CDX1 mRNA and MUC2 mRNA were not examined in GES-1 cell under normal culture conditions. But they could be induced by IL-1β with a dose-dependent manner in a concentration range (P＜0.05); 8 h after treatment with IL-1β, the peak values of the expression levels of CDX1 mRNA and MUC2 mRNA were reached (P＜0.05), then declined gradually. When pre-incubated with NF-κB inhibitor PDTC, the expression levels of CDX1 mRNA and MUC2 mRNA were significantly decreased (P＜0.05). Conclusion IL-1β significantly induces the expressions of CDX1 mRNA and MUC2 mRNA in cultured human gastric epithelial cell GES-1 through the NF-κB signal pathway, which indicates that IL-1β plays a role in the process of intestinal metaplasia.