Objective To determine the biological effectiveness of 125I radioactive seeds with continuous low dose rate radiation on the human esophageal cancer cell line KYSE150 in vitro and explore the underlying cellular mechanisms.Methods The cells were divided into three cell groups:control group,single dose radiation group (SDR) and 125I radioactive seeds with continuous low dose rate radiation group (125 I-CLDR).The KYSE150 cells were exposed to radiation of X-ray at a high dose rate of 1.052 Gy/min or 125I radioactive seeds at a low dose rate of 2.77 cGy/h.The responses of KYSE150 cells to two modes of irradiation were evaluated by the colony-forming assay,cell apoptosis as well as cell cycle analysis.Furthermore,the expression levels of γ-H2AX and Bax were detected by Western blot.Results KYSE150 cells were more radiosensitive to 125I-CLDR than SDR.The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for 125I-CLDR related to SDR was 1.56.Compared with SDR,125I-CLDR yielded more proportions of the early and late apoptosis rate (t =4.07,11.08,P ＜0.05) as well as cells at G2/M phase (t =11.25,P ＜0.05).Moreover,γ-H2AX and Bax expression levels in 125I-CLDR significantly increased compared with SDR.Conclusions Compared with the high dose rate X-ray radiation,the continuous low dose rate radiation of 125I radioactive seeds had stronger inhibition effect on KYSE150 esophageal cancer cells by impairing clonogenic capacity,inducing apoptosis and G2/M cell cycle arrest,and increasing radiosensitivity.