Micro-RNAs are involved in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as potential therapeutic targets for HCC. In this study, we found that miR-27a-3p was highly expressed in HCC, which was associated with lower survival rates of HCC patients. In vivo and in vitro functional experiments confirmed that over-expression or knock-down miR-27a-3p could significantly affect the proliferation ability of HCCLM3 and Huh-7, two HCC cell lines. Ubiquitin-specific protease 46 (USP46) was confirmed as the key target gene of miR-27a-3p in HCC via RNA-seq, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, and luciferase report. When knocking down USP46, the proliferation activity of HCC cells was significantly enhanced, while it was significantly inhibited after over-expressing USP4. Above results suggest that the abnormally over-expressed miR-27a-3p in liver promotes the proliferation of cancer cells and accelerates the development of HCC by targeting inhibition the expression of USP46. Targeting miR-27a-3p may be an effective strategy for prevention and treatment of HCC.
Keywords: MiR-27a-3p; USP46; cell proliferation; hepatocellular carcinoma.
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