miR-99a and -99b inhibit cervical cancer cell proliferation and invasion by targeting mTOR signaling pathway.

MicroRNAs were demonstrated to play an important role in the regulation of gene expression. Here, we showed that miR-99a and -99b (miR-99a/b) were down-regulated in human cervical cancer patient tissues and were negatively related with lymphatic metastasis. In addition, overexpression of miR-99a/b inhibited cell growth and invasion, whereas suppression of miR-99a/b yielded the reverse phenotype. Dual luciferase report assay revealed that mTOR was identified as a novel target gene of both miR-99a and -99b. Altogether, these results suggested that miR-99a/b directly and negatively regulated mTOR expression in cervical cancer cells, and enforced the importance of miR-99a/b and their targets in the malignant phenotypes of cervical carcinogenesis.