Objective To investigate the effects of p53 on expression and activity of protein kinase R (PKR) as well as biological characters of HeLa cells from cervical carcinoma patients. Methods Recombinant plasmid vector pEGFP-C1/p53 was constructed to over-express p53 then it was transfected into HeLa cells. Transcription levels of p53 and PKR mRNA were detected by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) among pEGFP-C1/p53 transfection group, pEGFP-C1 transfection group and blank control group(only transfection reagent was added);Protein expression lev?els of p53, PKR, phosphated PKR(p-PKR)and phosphatedαsubunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2(p-eIF2α)which is the downstream substrate of PKR were detected by Western Blot among three groups;Proliferation of HeLa cell were deter?mined by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT)assay;Invasion of HeLa cell were determined by Transwell cell assay. Re?sults Recombinant plasmid vector pEGFP-C1/p53 was successfully constructed to overexpress p53;Transcription level of p53 and PKR mRNA in pEGFP-C1/p53 transfection group were higher than those in pEGFP-C1 transfection group and in blank control group (P<0.05),and there were no significant difference between their levels in pEGFP-C1 transfection group and in blank control group;Protein expression levels of p53, PKR, p-PKR andp-eIF2α in pEGFP-C1/p53 transfection group were higher than those in pEGFP-C1 transfection group and in blank control group (P<0.05),and there were no sig?nificant difference between those expression levels in pEGFP-C1 transfection group and in blank control group;MTT and Transwell cell results showed that proliferation and invasion of HeLa cells in pEGFP-C1/p53 transfection group were weaker than those in pEGFP-C1 transfection group and in blank control group (P<0.05),and there were no significant difference between proliferation and invasion of HeLa cells in pEGFP-C1 transfection group and in blank control group. Conclu?sion p53 can up-regulate the expression and activity of PKR, promote activation of PKR/eIF2αsignal transduction pas?sage and restrain cell proliferation and invasion of HeLa cells.