Gambogic acid (GA), the natural product, has been demonstrated to be a promising chemotherapeutic drug for osteosarcoma (OS) due to its ability to induce apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. To date, no studies have examined the role of GA in metastatic bone disease. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play critical roles in invasion and metastasis, and the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP) family regulates the activity of multifunctional metalloproteinases. In this study, we investigated the gene expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in OS cell lines treated by the GA. The expression of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 were studied by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting. In vitro invasion of OS cell lines (Saos-2, MG-63) were investigated by the Matrigel invasion assay. Mean MMP-9 protein and mRNA expression was significantly suppressed; in addition, mean TIMP-1 protein mRNA expression were upregulated by increasing GA concentrations. GA reduced the invasiveness of OS cell lines dose-dependently. Furthermore, specific inhibition of TIMP-1 secretion with siRNA against TIMP-1 significantly reduced the effect of GA on OS cell lines. Overall, our findings suggest that GA reduces the invasive potential of OS cells via attenuation of MMP-9 and upregulation of TIMP-1. Moreover, TIMP-1 played an important role in the reduction of invasive potential of the OS cells which were treated by GA.