miR-122-5p inhibits tumor cell proliferation and induces apoptosis by targeting MYC in gastric cancer cells.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in the development and progression of human cancers, including Gastric cancer (GC). In this study, we investigated the correlation of miR-122-5p expression with cell proliferation, and apoptosis in a GC cell line. GC cells SCG 7901 were transfected with control, miR-122-5p or miR-122-5p inhibitor and MTT assay, western blot, and BrdU staining were respectively used to investigate the effect of miR-122-5p on GC cell cycle. The overexpression of miR-122-5p could reduce cell proliferation in SCG7901 cells, and BrdU staining finally verified miR-122-5p induced cell growth arrest by upregulation p27 expression in SCG7901cells. On the other hand, cells apoptosis research showed that miR-122-5p induced apoptosis by targeting MYC in SCG7901 cells. Finally, in this study, miR-122-5p was confirmed inhibiting tumor GC cells proliferation and inducing cells apoptosis by targeting MYC. All these findings suggest that miR-122-5p may be involved in progression of GC and could be a new therapeutic target for this disease.