Abstract: Objective To study the effect of LRP16 expression on etoposide-induced apoptosis of tumor cells and its possible molecular mechanism. Methods Hela cells were transfected with siRNA,control siRNA,siRNA-374 with an inhibiting rate of 90% for LRP16 expression,and siRNA-668 with an inhibiting rate of 60% for LRP16 expression,and then treated with etoposide to induce DNA damage.Viability of Hela cells was assayed with CCK-8.Effect of inhibiting LRP16 expression on apoptosis of Hela cells was detected by flow cytometry.mRNA level in downstream target genes related with NF-κB was measured by RT-PCR after LRP16 expression was inhibited. Results After treated with etoposide（100μmol/L）,the inhibited LRP16 expression significantly increased the proliferation and apoptosis of Hela cells in a dose-dependent manner（P＜0.05）.RT-PCR showed that down-regulation of LRP16 expression decreased the transcription activity of NF-κB and the mRNA level in downstream target genes related with NF-κB. Conclusion LRP16 plays an important role in etoposide-induced apoptosis of Hela cells by down-regulating the activity of NF-κB.Our experiment proves that inhibiting LRP16 expression increases the sensitivity of Hela cells to etoposide.