Abstract: To study the mechanism of downregulation of apoptosis by autophagy induced by oridonin in HeLa cells, the cell viability was measured by MTT method. DNA fragmentation was assayed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Autophagic and apoptotic ratio was determined by flowcytometric analysis. Protein expression was detected by Western blotting analysis. Oridonin induced both apoptosis and autophagy in HeLa cells. Apoptosis was upregulated by introduction of the inhibitor of autophagy, 3-methyladenine (3-MA). Addition of oridonin increased Bax/Bcl-2 expression ratio and cytochrome c, whereas the expression of SIRT-1 was decreased, and 3-MA pre-application enhanced these changes. Oridonin-induced autophagy antagonized apoptosis in HeLa cells through mitochondrial pathway.