Objective: To study the effect and mechanism of aspirin alone or combined with cisplatin（DDP）on human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells. Methods: HeLa cells were treated by different concentrations of aspirin

DDP alone or both. The inhibitory effect on cell growth was analyzed by MTT and colony-forming assay. Cell apoptosis was measured with flow cytometry. The mRNA levels of Bcl-2

Bax and NF-κB（P65） were studied by RT-PCR. Results: MTT assay showed that aspirin inhibited HeLa cell proliferation in a time- and dose-dependant manner. Aspirin decreased clone numbers in colony formation assay. Aspirin also induced apoptosis of HeLa cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner as detected by flow cytometry. The inhibition effects on proliferation

colony formation and apoptosis were significantly enhanced when cells were treated with both aspirin and DDP. RT-PCR demonstrated that aspirin decreased the transcription of Bcl-2 and NF-κB

and increased expression of Bax gene. Conclusion: Aspirin can induce apoptosis in HeLa cells. Combination of aspirin and DDP displays a synergistic effect. The possible mechanism might be that aspirin downregulates the mRNA levels of Bcl-2 and NF-κB gene and upregulates the expression of Bax.