miR-935 promotes gastric cancer cell proliferation by targeting SOX7

•miR-935 is upregulated in gastric cancer tissues and cells.•miR-935 overexpression promotes cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in MKN28 cells. Knockdown of miR-935 inhibits cell proliferation and tumorigenesis.•Tumor suppressor SOX7 is the target of miR-935.•Inhibition of miR-935 and SOX7 promotes promotes cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in MKN28 cells.

Gastric cancer is the most common cancer in the world, miRNAs have been demonstrated to play critical role in the development and progression of gastric cancer, such as miR-7, miR-217 and miR-335. Here, we found miR-935 was upregulated in gastric cancer tissues and cells. Overexpression of miR-935 promoted cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in vitro determined by MTT analysis, colony formation analysis, BrdU cell proliferation analysis and soft agar growth analysis, knockdown of miR-935 reduced these effects. Tumor suppressor sex-determining region Y-box 7 (SOX7) was the direct target of miR-935, overexpression of miR-935 inhibited SOX7 expression, but promoted the levels CCND1 and C-MYC which promotes cell proliferation and tumorigenesis, knockdown of miR-935 increased SOX7 level, and inhibited CCND1 and C-MYC expression. Synchronous knockdown of miR-935 and SOX7 promoted cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in vitro, confirming miR-935 regulated gastric cancer cell proliferation by inhibiting SOX7. In summary, we found miR-935 contributed to cell proliferation of gastric cancer through targeting SOX7.