miR-202 suppresses cell proliferation in human hepatocellular carcinoma by downregulating LRP6 post-transcriptionally

• MicroRNA-202 (miR-202) is downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and tissues.
• Overexpression of miR-202 in HCC cells suppressed cell proliferation and tumorigenicity, while downregulation of miR-202 enhanced the cells’ proliferative capacity.
• miR-202 suppresses the expression of LRP6 (low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6) by binding to the 3′-untranslated region (UTR) of its mRNA.
• Silencing the expression of LRP6 is the essential biological function of miR-202 during HCC cell proliferation.

MicroRNAs have emerged as important regulators of carcinogenesis. In the current study, we observed that microRNA-202 (miR-202) is downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and tissues, indicating a significant correlation between miR-202 expression and HCC progression. Overexpression of miR-202 in HCC cells suppressed cell proliferation and tumorigenicity, while downregulation of miR-202 enhanced the cells’ proliferative capacity. Furthermore, we identified low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6) as a direct target of miR-202. miR-202 suppresses the expression of LRP6 by binding to the 3′-untranslated region (UTR) of its mRNA. Finally, we found that silencing the expression of LRP6 is the essential biological function of miR-202 during HCC cell proliferation. Collectively, our findings reveal that miR-202 is a potential tumor suppressive miRNA that participates in carcinogenesis of human HCC by suppressing LRP6 expression.