Summary: In order to investigate the regulative function of telomerase and phosphorylated (acti-vated) extracelluar regulated protein kinase (ERK) i and 2 in the leukemic cell lines HL-60 andK562 proliferation inhibition and apoptosis, three chemotherapeutic drugs Harringtonine (HRT),Vincristine(VCR)and Etoposide(Vp16)were selected as inducers. The proliferation inhibition ratewas detected by MTT method, the cell cycle and cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometryand the telomerase activity was detected by the telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP)assay and bioluminescence analysis method. The phosphorylated ERK1/2 protein expression wasdetected by western blot method. The results showed that HRT, VCR and Vp16 could inhibit cellproliferation, induce apoptosis, inhibit telomerase activity and down-regulate the protein expres-sion of phosphorylated ERK. It was suggested that ERK signal transduction pathway was involvedin the down-regulation of telomerase activity and the onset of apoptosis in the leukemic cells treat-ed by HRT, VCR and Vp16.