Suppressive role of microRNA-29 in hepatocellular carcinoma via targeting IGF2BP1

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer, ranking as the second leading cause of male cancer death worldwide. MicroRNA-29 (miR-29) has been demonstrated to act as a tumor suppressor in HCC. However, the regulatory mechanism of miR-29 underlying HCC growth and metastasis still remains obscure. In the present study, we showed that the expression of miR-29 was significantly reduced in HCC tissues and cell lines, and low miR-29 expression was associated with disease progression and shorter survival time of HCC patients. In vitro experiments showed that restoration of miR-29 expression caused a significant reduction in HCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Insulin like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 1 (IGF2BP1) was identified as a novel target gene of miR-29. The expression of IGF2BP1 was significantly increased in HCC tissues and cell lines. Moreover, IGF2BP1 was negatively regulated by miR-29 at the post-transcriptional levels in HCC cells. Furthermore, overexpression of IGF2BP1 attenuated the suppressive effects of miR-29 on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells. According to these above findings, our study suggests that miR-29 may play a suppressive role in HCC growth and metastasis through directly targeting IGF2BP1. Therefore, miR-29 may be used as a potential candidate for the treatment of HCC.