MiR-361 targets Yes-associated protein (YAP) mRNA to suppress cell proliferation in lung cancer

•MiR-361 is able to target 3′UTR of YAP mRNA.•MiR-361 suppresses the proliferation of lung cancer by inhibiting YAP.•YAP is negatively correlated with miR-361 in lung cancer tissues.•YAP is up-regulated in clinical lung cancer tissues.

Yes-associated protein (YAP) contributes to the development of multiple tumors, but the post-transcription modulation of YAP remains unexplored. Here, we present a new regulatory microRNA of YAP, miR-361, which directly targets YAP to inhibit cell proliferation in lung cancer. We used bioinformatics to predict that miR-361 could target 3′-untranslated region (3′UTR) of YAP mRNA. Luciferase reporter gene assays demonstrated that miR-361 could decrease the luciferase activities of 3′UTR vector of YAP. Furthermore, YAP expression was obviously abated by miR-361 using RT-PCR and immunoblotting in lung cancer A549 cells. In terms of function, MTT and colony formation analysis showed that ectopic miR-361 expression significantly suppressed cell proliferation in lung cancer. Notably, overexpressed YAP accelerated miR-361-bated proliferation of lung cancer cells. MiR-361 inhibitor promoted cell proliferation in lung cancer, but YAP RNA interference reversed miR-361 inhibitor-driven cell proliferation. Interestingly, miR-361 was capable of affecting the cell cycle in lung cancer progression. Finally, the negative correlation of miR-361 with YAP was found in clinical human lung cancer tissues. In conclusion, miR-361 targets 3′UTR of YAP mRNA to depress the proliferation of lung cancer cells.