To validate whether down-regulation of microRNA-203 (miR-203) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is involved in HCC progression by targeting survivin. MiR-203 mimics was transfected into HepG2 cells to enhance miR-203 expression, and miR-203 inhibitor was transfected into HepG2 cells to inhibit miR-203 expression. The effect of up-regulation and down-regulation of miR-203 on survivin expression of HepG2 cells was evaluated using Western blot assay. The effect of miR-203 or survivin expression on the proliferation of HepG2 cells was detected using the CKK-8 assay. Over-expression of miR-203 significantly inhibited the expression of survivin in HepG2 cells (p < 0·05), and down-expression of miR-203 significantly promoted the expression of survivin in HepG2 cells (p < 0·05). Both over-expression of miR-203 and down-regulation of survivin suppressed proliferation of HepG2 cells significantly compared with negative control. Low expression of miR-203 contributes to the progression of HCC via targeting survivin.

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