Tripterygium wilfordii (T. wilfordii , TW ), a wildly used herb medicine,was tested for anticancer effect on human myeloid leukemia cells, HL60 in this study. The extract powder of T. wilfordii induced the apoptosis of HL60 cells was demonstrated by morphological change, cell viability, DNA fragmentation and caspase-3 activity. However, normal human peripheral mononuclear cells remained viable under the same treatment. The T. wilfordii induced apoptosis of HL60 cells was associated with the increased Bax gene expression and decreased Bcl-2 gene expression. In addition, the gene expression of c-Myc, and hTERT, TP1, but not TR was downregulated in TW treatedHL60 cells in dose-dependent manner. Telomerase activity in HL60 cell was inhibited by the T. wilfordii . C-Myc protein is reported as a positive regulator of hTERT gene in HL60 cells. Therefore, proto-oncogene c-myc might play an essential role in the regulation of telomerase activity in HL60cells exposed to theT. wilfordii . All the treated cells showed a decrease in telomerase activity after T. wilfordii treatment. Taken togather, these results indicate that theT. Wilfordii-induced apoptosis in HL60 is mediated through mitochondrial pathway in parallel with the decrease expression of hTERT gene.