MicroRNA-340 inhibits tumor cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and induces apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

MicroRNAs (miRs) are short RNAs that serve a role in the origination and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). miR‑340 has been identified to be a novel tumor suppressor. The present study investigated the antitumor function of miR‑340 in HCC. In the present study, it was detected that miR‑340 was significantly decreased in HCC cancer tissues and human HCC cell lines using reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. Cell Counting kit‑8 and apoptosis assays demonstrated that miR‑340 reduced cell proliferation and induced cellular apoptosis in HCC cell lines. A Transwell invasion assay demonstrated that miR‑340 suppressed the migration and invasion of HCC cell lines. In addition, S‑phase kinase‑associated protein 2 (SKP2), which may be repressed by miR‑340 in HCC cell lines, was identified to be a potential target of miR‑340. The results of the present study revealed that miR‑340 serves a tumor suppressor role by influencing the proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of HCC cell lines, which may be explained by the downregulation of SKP2 by miR‑340.