The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains 3 (LRIG3) on the biological features of bladder cancer cell lines. The plasmids of over-expressed LRIG3 and the blank plasmid serving as control were transfected into the bladder cancer cell lines, T24, EJ and BIU-87, and the expression levels of LRIG3 mRNA and protein were detected by using real-time PCR and Western blotting. The changes in the cell cycle and apoptosis were examined by using flow cytometry. The invasive ability was measured by Transwell assay, and CCK-8 assays were used to measure the proliferation of cells. As compared with the control group, the LRIG3 mRNA and protein expression levels in LRIG3 cDNA-transfected group were raised significantly (P < 0.05). The average number of cells with up-regulated LRIG3 passing through the inserted filter was decreased significantly as compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Up-regulation of LRIG3 also could inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of T24, EJ and BIU-87 cells. Except BIU-87, the T24 and EJ cells transfected with LIRG3 cDNA were arrested in G(0)/G(1) phase compared to the control group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the over-expression of LRIG3 could influence the cell cycle and invasion, inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in the three bladder cancer cell lines.