The ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway, a major pathway for protein degradation in cells, plays a critical role in the protein metabolism. So abnormality of the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway is closely related to many diseases, especially cancer. In this paper, we reviewed the study of the significant role of the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathways during the cell cycle, DNA repair and apoptosis, especially the relationship between these pathways and tumorigenesis.