Abstract: AimTo study the effect of curcumin on the apoptosis of prostate cancer cell line LNCaP and regulation of expression of maspin gene. MethodsMTT and DNA electrophoresis were used to examine the cell growth and apoptosis of prostate cancer cell line LNCaP after treated with different doses of curcumin. The expression of maspin gene at transcription level and translation level was also detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting. pGL3-maspin luciferase expression vector, containing 847 bp (-764-+83) DNA of maspin gene 5′ promoter region, was transient transfected into LNCaP cell. Through detecting the activity of luciferase, the effect of curcumin on the promoter of maspin was studied. Results Curcumin inhibited cell growth, induced the apoptosis and enhanced the expression of maspin gene in LNCaP cells. ConclusionCurcumin up-regulated expression of maspin gene in LNCaP cells through enhancing the transcription activity of promoter of maspin gene.