OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of down-regulation of miR-205-5p on 3-bromopyruvate-induced apoptosis in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE2Z cells. METHODS: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE2Z cells were transfected with miR- 205-5p-mimic or miR-205-5p-inhibitor, treated with 80 μmol/L 3-bromopyruvate alone, or exposed to both of the treatments. The proliferation of the treated cells was examined with MTT assay, and early apoptosis of the cells was detected using a mitochondrial membrane potential detection kit (JC-1). DAPI fluorescence staining was used to detect morphological changes of the cell nuclei and late cell apoptosis; Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining was employed to detect the cell apoptosis rate. Western blotting was used to detect the expressions of Bcl-2, Bax, Mcl-1 and Bak proteins. RESULTS: Exposure to 3-bromopyruvate significantly inhibited the proliferation of CNE2Z cells, and increasing the drug concentration and extending the treatment time produced stronger inhibitory effects. Treatment with 80 μmol/L 3-bromopyruvate for 24, 48 and 72 h resulted in inhibition rates of (45.7±1.21)%, (64.4±2.02)% and (78.3±1.55)% in non-transfected CNE2Z cells, respectively; the inhibition rates were (27.7±1.04)%, (34.8±2.10)% and (44.3±1.57)% in the cells transfected with miR-205-5p-mimic, and were (80.5 ± 0.94)%, (87.9 ± 0.50)% and (93.8 ± 1.16)% in cells transfected with miR-205-5p-inhibitor, respectively. The results of mitochondrial membrane potential detection showed that the relative proportion of red and green fluorescence decreased significantly in miR-205-5p-inhibitor-transfected cells with 3-bromopyruvate treatment. Combined treatment of the cells with 3-bromopyruvate and miR-205-5p-inhibitor transfection obviously increased nuclear fragmentation and nuclear pyknosis and significantly increased cell apoptotic rate as compared with the two treatments alone ( < 0.01), causing also decreased expressions of Bcl-2 and Mcl-1 proteins and increased expressions of Bax and Bak proteins. CONCLUSIONS Inhibition of miR-205-5p enhances the proapototic effect of 3-bromopyruvate in CNE2Z cells possibly in relation to the down-regulation of Mcl-1 and Bcl-2 and the up-regulation of Bak and Bax proteins.