Objective：To investigate the expression of Rho-associated coiled-coil forming protein kinase（ROCK） in epithelial ovarian tumors and its effects on proliferation and apoptosis in ovarian carcinoma cells. Methods：Expression of ROCK in 80 patients with ep－ithelial ovarian tumors was assessed by immunohistochemical staining. After being treated with Fasudil，the inhibitor of ROCK，the proliferation and apoptosis of SKOV3 cells were tested by cell counting kit-8（CCK-8） and flow cytometry（FCM） respectively，the activity of cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase－３（caspase-3），caspase－3 was detected by spectrophotometry，and the expression of p53 was detected by Western blot. Results：The expression of ROCK was higher in epithelial ovarian carcinoma tissues than in benign tumors（ ?字2=20.961，P=0.000），and higher in advanced carcinoma tissues than in early carcinoma tissues（ ?字2=16.675，P=0.000）. Com－pared with the untreated SKOV3 cells，the inhibition ratios and apoptosis rates in Fasudil treated cells were increased in an dose de－pendent relationship（F=402.537，P=0.000；F=124.251，P=0.000）. In addition，Fasudil significantly enhanced caspase-3 activity（F=32.423，P=0.000） and increased the expression of p53（F=31.599，P=0.000） in concentration-dependent manner. Conclusion：The expression of ROCK is higher in ovarian carcinoma than in benign tumor. ROCK may play a certain role in the proliferation and apoptosis of ovarian carcinoma cells.