Objective To explore the role of curcumin in inducing autophagy and apoptosis of human hepatocarcinoma cell line Huh7, and the effect of autophagy inhibition on curcumin-induced apoptosis.Methods Human hepatocarcinoma cell line Huh7 was cultured using curcumin (5, 10, 20, and 40 μmol/L)-contained medium, and the proliferation ability was detected by CCK-8 kit. After culturing Huh7 cells using 5-40 μmol/L curcumincontained medium for 48 h, the expression levels of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3)-Ⅱ and LC3-Ⅰ were measured by Western blotting, and the ratio of LC3-Ⅱ to LC3-Ⅰ was calculated. The autophagosome was observed under fluorescence microscope. The apoptosis level of Huh7 cells was measured by flow cytometry. Then Huh7 cells were cultured using the medium containing 5 mmol/L autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) and 20 μmol/L curcumin, and the apoptotic and autophagic levels were detected.Results CCK-8 assay showed that curcumin could significantly inhibit the proliferation of Huh7 cells in a dose dependent manner (P<0.05, P<0.01). Western blotting analysis showed that curcumin significantly increased the ratio of LC3-Ⅱ to LC3-Ⅰ (P<0.05, P<0.01). Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that the number of autophagosome increased after adding 20 μmol/L curcumin. Compared with the Huh7 cells cultured with the medium containing curcumin alone at 20 μmol/L, the the ratio of LC3-Ⅱ to LC3-Ⅰ was significantly decreased in the Huh7 cells cultured with the medium containing curcumin and 3-MA (P<0.01), and the number of autophagosome decreased. Flow cytometry showed that the 5-40 μmol/L curcumin significantly induced the apoptosis of Huh7 cells (P<0.05, P<0.01), and 3-MA combined with curcumin could significantly decrease the apoptosis of Huh7 cells compared with 20 μmol/L curcumin alone (P<0.05).Conclusion Curcumin induces the apoptosis of Huh7 cells, inhibits proliferation and increases autophagy level, and inhibition of autophagy can attenuate the apoptotic effect of curcumin on Huh7 cells.