Aim To investigate the effect of epigallocatechin-3-gallate （EGCG） on advanced glycosylation end product （AGE） induced apoptosis in human umbilical vein endothelial cell （HUVEC） and the possible mechanism.Methods HUVEC was incubated with 200 mg/L AGE for 24 h in the presence or absence of different concentrations of EGCG （50,100 μmol/L） for further 8 h. The same concentration and action time of unmodified bovine serum albumin （BSA） was put into use as control group. Cell viability was evaluated by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium （MTT） assay. Morphological change in HUVEC was observed by Hoechst-33258 staining,and cell apoptosis was analysed by Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining assay. Oxidative stress in HUVEC was evaluated by reactive oxygen species （ROS）.Results Compared with BSA,AGE induced obvious morphological changes of cell apoptosis,such as chromatin pyknosis,karyorrhexis,reduced cell viability （P＜0.01）,increased apoptosis rate （P＜0.01）,enhanced oxidative stress reaction （P＜0.01）. Pretreatment with EGCG （50,100 μmol/L） in a concentration-dependent manner increased cell viability （P＜0.01）,relieved the morphological changes of cell apoptosis,decreased AGE-induced apoptosis and ROS production （P＜0.01）.Conclusion Our findings indicated that EGCG decreased AGE-induced apoptosis in HUVEC via the inhibition of oxidatie stress reaction.