Objective：To determine the effect of selenium on apoptosis and the expression of bcl-2，p53 induced by cadmium in LLC-PK1 cells. Methods：MTT assay was used to observe the effects of selenium on growth inhibition induced by cadmium in LLC-PK1 cells. The effect of selenium was observed in cadmium-induced apoptosis with the fluoromi croscope dyed by acridine orange／ethidium bromide（AO／EB）, and the levels of p53 and bcl-2 proteins were detected by Western blot. Results：Selenium inhibited cadmium-induced LLC-PK1 cells growth in a dose-dependent manner, and the selenium pretreatment partially inhibited the cadmium-induced apoptosis. On exposure to 40 μmol／L cadmium for 12 h, the expression levels of p53 proteins were upregulated. At the same time, the level of bcl-2 protein was downregulated in LLC-PK1 cells. The selenium pretreatment inhibited the cadmiumd-induced p53 proteins upregulation, however, did not affect the bcl-2 expression levels. Conclusion：The results indicate that the protective effect of selenium may be related to the inhibition the p53 protein upregulation in cadmium-induced apoptosis.