Objective: Our aim was to study the role of telomerase activation in the course of cervical carcinogenesis and progression.Methods:Telomeric repeat amplification protocol(TRAP) assay was used to measure telomerase activity in tissue samples with various cervical conditions:40 with cervical cancer, 50 with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN), 20 with normal cervice. Results:The positive rate of telomerase activity was 95.0%,44.0%, and 10.0% in cervical cancer, CIN, and normal cervices, respectively, which was significantly higher in cervical cancer than that in CIN and normal cervices, so was that in CIN than that in normal cervices (P<0.01) . The positive rate was 22.2%, 37.5%, and 75.0% in CINⅠ,Ⅱ, and Ⅲ, respectively, which was significantly higher in CINⅢ than that in CIN Ⅱand CINⅠ (P<0.01).Conclusion:Telomerase activation may relate to cervical carcinogenesis, which correlates well with the grade of cervical lesions.