Objective To explore the effects of cytoskeleton regulatory protein Twinfilin-1 overexpression on heavy metal poisoning and apoptosis of cadmium-induced renal cells.MethodsPorcine renal cells LLC-PK1 were cultured in vitro and randomly divided into control group， model group， model+pc DNA empty vector group and model+Twinfilin-1 overexpression group. Cells were treated with 8 μmol/L of cadmium for 24 h to establish the model of heavy metal poisoning. The expression of Twinfilin-1 was detected by real-time fluorescent PCR and Western blot. The cells proliferation was detected by CCK8.The apoptosis and changes in mitochondrial membrane potentials (MMP) were detected by flow cytometry. The expressions of apoptosis-related proteins ［B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2)， Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax)， cysteine aspartate specific proteases (Caspase3， 9)］ were detected by Western blot.ResultsCompared with control group， expression of Twinfilin-1 mRNA and protein， ability of cells proliferation， MMP decrease， apoptosis rate， Bax/Bcl-2， cleaved cas9/cas9 and cleaved cas3/cas3 levels were increased in model group (P<0.05).Compared with model group， expression of Twinfilin-1 mRNA and protein， ability of cells proliferation， MMP increase， apoptosis rate， Bax/Bcl-2， cleaved cas9/cas9 and cleaved cas3/cas3 levels were decreased in model+Twinfilin-1 overexpression group (P<0.05)， but there was no significant change in model+pc DNA empty vector group (P>0.05).ConclusionTwinfilin-1 overexpression may inhibit the activation of Caspase3 and 9， reduce apoptosis and maintain normal MMP by reducing level of key apoptosis factor Bax/Bcl-2， thereby protecting from heavy metal poisoning of cadmium-induced renal cells.