Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth most common type of cancer, worldwide. The major molecular factors associated with the pathogenesis of GC remain unclear. Previous studies found that zinc finger proteins are highly abundant in human eukaryotes and tissues, and play an important role in maintaining normal cellular functions and have an association with tumor initiation. In the current study, interference technology was used to silence the ZNF139 protein, a zinc finger protein that was previously found to be closely associated with GC. The results showed that cell viability and proliferation were inhibited in the Znf139-knockdown of GC cells. Additional study found that the expression levels of B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and survivin messenger RNAs and proteins were downregulated in Znf139-silenced cells, indicating that cells expression Znf139 are able to induce the growth of tumor cells by mediating the apoptosis pathway. Further in vivo experiments showed that Znf139 knockdown downregulated the expression levels of Bcl-2 and survivin in mice. Overall, the in vitro and in vivo findings of the present study indicate that ZNF139 may be actively involved in the progression of GC.