AIM:To investigate whether specific small interfering RNA ( siRNA) targeting Toll-like receptor 4 ( TLR4) gene inhibits the proliferation of cervical cancer cell line HeLa through NF-κB signaling pathway and down-regula-tion of Bcl-2 expression.METHODS:Three specific TLR4 siRNAs and 1 negative siRNA were transfected respectively in-to HeLa cells.The expression of TLR4 at mRNA and protein levels was measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction ( RT-PCR) and Western blotting , respectively .The protein expression of p 65 and Bcl-2 was detected by Western blotting.The cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay and plate colony formation assay .The apoptotic rate of the cells and the cell cycle were analyzed by flow cytometry .RESULTS:In comparison with the other 2 kinds of TLR4 siR-NAs, TLR4-siRNA-003 demonstrated the strongest silencing effect on TLR4 gene expression in the HeLa cells at 48 h after transfection.The expression of TLR4 at mRNA and protein levels was reduced by 62% and 89%, respectively.The pro-tein levels of p65 and Bcl-2 significantly decreased .The growth rate of HeLa cells transfected with TLR 4-siRNA-003 was significantly inhibited .Moreover , the cell apoptotic rate increased significantly and the cell cycle was arrested at G 1 phase as the HeLa cells were transfected with TLR 4-siRNA-003 for 48 h.CONCLUSION:Specific TLR4 siRNA effectively in-hibits the expression of TLR4 and inhibits the proliferation of cervical cancer HeLa cells through NF-κB signaling pathway and down-regulation of Bcl-2 expression, indicating that TLR4 may be a new target for the treatment of cervical cancer .