In the cellular response to DNA damaging agents, cells undergo cell cycle arrest or apoptosis against irrepairable DNA damage. RpS3 is known to function as UV DNA repair endonuclease III and ribosomal protein S3. In this study, we used normal and rpS3-overexpressed 293T cells to examine the role of rpS3 in response to DNA damaging agents. When 293T cells transfected with rpS3 were irradiated with UV, the pattern of cell cycle was dramatically changed in comparison with un-transfected 293T cells. We also found that the expression of rpS3 in normal cells was increased by treatment with DNA damaging agents. By means of Western and Northern blot analyses in rat tissues, we showed the expression pattern of rpS3 protein and its mRNA. These data suggest that DNA repair and cell cycle arrest are inter-related to each other through rpS3, and the increased expression of rpS3 seems to regulate the cell cycle arrest by DNA damaging agents.