Objective To investigate the influence of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antagonist bevacizumab on the growth of human choroidal melanoma (CM) OCM-1 cell xenografts in nude mice, and to explore the probable mechanism.Methods OCM-1 cells were subcutaneously implanted on 18 nude mice to establish ectopic model of human CM. The nude mice with the tumor of 5 mm in diameter were randomly divided into three groups: untreated group (group A), normal saline （NS） group (group B), drug treated group (group C). Bevacizumab was intraperitoneally injected for 14 consecutive days in group C, and the same volume of NS was used at a same way in group B. The volume and weight of implanted tumor as well as inhibitory rates of drug on tumor were calculated, ki67 and survivin proteins were measured with immunohistochemistry, and the mRNA expression of VEGF and survivin were assessed by RT-PCR.Results The volume and weight of tumor was (598.86plusmn;321.81) mm3, (0.66plusmn;0.15) g; (1 715.15plusmn;278.16) mm3, (1.54plusmn;0.39) g and (1 750.23plusmn;206.36) mm3, (1.54plusmn;0.31) g in groups C, A and B, respectively. There were significant differences between group C and A (F=34.53, P=0.00) and group C and group B (F=8.69, P=0.01). The inhibitory rate of these three groups were 57.14%, 5.31%, 6.25%, respectively, and the proliferation index (PI) of ki67 in these three groups were (51.85plusmn;1.32)%, (46.30plusmn;1.39)%, (27.90plusmn;0.90)%, respectively, there were significant differences in ki67 PI between C group and A or B group (H=15.17, P=0.00). The expression of survivin mRNA was (0.49plusmn;0.02), (0.82plusmn;0.05) and (0.61plusmn;0.05) in groupss C, A and B, respectively, there were significant differences between C group and A or B group (F=15.17, P＜0.05) . The expression of VEGF mRNA was (0.32plusmn;0.08), (0.73plusmn;0.07), (0.80plusmn;0.04) in groups C, A and B, significant difference was found between group C and A or B group (F=12.05，P＜0.05). Conclusion Bevacizumab can inhibit the growth of human CM in nude mice probably by inhibiting the activity of VEGF and downregulating survivin expression of the tumor as well as inhibiting the growth of the tumor.