There are accumulating evidences suggesting that connexin (Cx), a gap junction channel-forming protein, acts as a growth suppressor in various cancer cells, and this effect is attributeed to the gap junction-mediated intercellular communication (GJIC). In order to characterize the relationship between the growth-arresting activity of Cx26 and its cytoplasmic localizations after expression, we linked a nuclear export signal (NES) sequence to Cx26 cDNA before transfecting into a rat breast cancer cell line. A confocal fluorescent microscopic observation revealed that the insertion of NES minimized the nuclear expression of Cx26, and increased its cytoplasmic expression, including plasma membrane junctions. Total cell counting and BrdUrd-labeling experiments showed that the growth of the breast cancer cells was inhibited by 74% upon transfection of Cx26-NES, whereas only 9% inhibition was observed with only Cx26 cDNA.