Some reports show that lanthanum, a rare earth element, induces apoptosis in certain cancer cells. In the present paper, we report the first observation of anoikis induced by lanthanum citrate (LaCit) in Hela cells at a concentration of 0.001-0.1 mmol/L after 48h-treatment. Before cell treatment, Hela cells were subjected to anoikis-resistant selection to remove anoikis-sensitive cells and ensure specificity of LaCit-induced anoikis. Anoikis was determined by Annexin/PI, AO/EB staining, cleavage of PARP and soft-agar colony forming assay. Further, findings of decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, the cleavage of caspase-9 and a dose-dependent increase expression of Bax were detected, suggesting that the intrinsic caspase pathway was involved in the anoikis induced by LaCit. In addition, activation of caspase-8 occurred later than that of caspase-9. LaCit also caused reorganization of actin cytoskeleton, and was accompanied by an increase in co-localization of F-actin with mitochondria, implying that both actin cytoskeleton and mitochondria may play important roles in LaCit -induced anoikis.