Abstract:

Objective  To investigate the expression of miR-144 in hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC） tissue and its relationship with clinicopathological factors， as well as its function in cells. Methods Expression of miR-144 in HCC and adjacent noncancerous tissue from patients was quantitated using qRT-PCR， and levels were compared with clinicopathological factors to identify possible correlations. Mimics of miR-144 and a negative control（NC） sequence were transfected into human HCC cell lines，which were analyzed in terms of proliferation （CCK-8 assay），colony formation and migration （transwell assay） as well as cell cycle（flow cytometry）. Results Expression of miR-144 was significantly lower in HCC samples than in matched controls（P<0.05）. Overexpression of miR-144 in HCC cell lines， but not the non-treated or the NC sequence，significantly reduced proliferation，colony formation and migration （P<0.05），as well as arrested the cell cycle in S phase. Postoperative survival was longer in HCC patients showing high miR-144 expression than in those showing low expression（P<0.05）. Other clinicopathological factors， however，did not correlate with miR-144 expression，including tumor size or number，AFP（P＞0.05）. Conclusion Frequently downregulated in HCC tissues，miR-144 acts as a tumor suppressor and may serve as a prognostic factor.

Key words: Liver neoplasm, miR-144, Proliferation, Migration, Prognosis