miR-654-3p predicts the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and inhibits the proliferation, migration, and invasion of cancer cells.BACKGROUND
 Increasing evidence reveals that aberrant microRNAs (miRNAs) expression play a crucial role in the tumorigenesis of cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), whereas the role of miR-654-3p in HCC remains unclear.  This study aimed to investigate the role of miR-654-3p in HCC.


 Real-time quantitative PCR was performed to detect miR-654-3p expression in HCC tissues and cell lines.  The association of miR-654-3p expression with clinical characteristics of HCC patients were analyzed.  And the prognostic value of miR-654-3p was examined using Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox regression analysis.  CCK-8 and Transwell assays were used to observe the effects of miR-654-3p on proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells.


 The miR-654-3p expression was downregulated in both HCC tissues and cell lines, which was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage.  Downregulation of miR-654-3p predicted poor prognosis of HCC patients.  Overexpression of miR-654-3p inhibited HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while knockdown of miR-654-3p promoted these cellular behaviors in vitro.


 Our study suggested that miR-654-3p expression was downregulated in HCC and might serve as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for the survival of HCC patients.  miR-654-3p might exert a suppressor role in HCC through inhibiting tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion.
miR-654-3p
Real-time quantitative PCR was performed to detect miR-654-3p expression in HCC tissues and cell lines. 
Real-time quantitative PCR
CCK-8 and Transwell assays were used to observe the effects of miR-654-3p on proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells.



Transwell assay