MiR-589-5p is a potential prognostic marker of hepatocellular carcinoma and regulates tumor cell growth by targeting MIG-6.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs approximately with 22 nucleotides. Accumulating evidence indicates that microRNAs are involved in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Some recent investigations have also reported that several microRNAs could act as biomarkers in cancer diagnosis and prognosis. MicroRNA-589-5p (miR-589-5p) is a less studied microRNA, in this study, we explored its roles in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We analyzed miR-589-5p expression in HCC tissues by sequencing data and proved the expression in liver cancer cell lines by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). We studied the effect of miR-589-5p on the growth of liver cancer cells by MTT assay, colony formation and flow cytometry, and identified its target gene by luciferase reporter assay. We found that miR-589-5p was commonly overexpressed in HCC specimens. High expression of miR-589-5p was a risk factor for HCC patient (Hazard ratio [HR] = 1.434; 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 1.006-2.044; p = 0.046). We also found miR-589-5p had higher expression in hepatocarcinoma cell lines HepG2 and HuH-7 than did in normal hepatocyte Lo-2. We identified that suppression of miR-589-5p inhibited cell proliferation and cell cycle progression by loss-of-function studies. Furthermore, we found mitogen-inducible gene 6 (MIG-6) to be a target of miR-589-5p. Our study demonstrated that miR-589-5p facilitated the growth of liver cancer cells by targeting MIG-6 and could be a prognosis biomarker for HCC. Suppression of miR-589-5p may be a feasible approach for inhibiting HCC progress.