miR-142-3p simultaneously targets HMGA1, HMGA2, HMGB1, and HMGB3 and inhibits tumorigenic properties and in-vivo metastatic potential of human cervical cancer cells

•Concurrent inhibition of HMGA1, HMGA2, HMGB1 and HMGB3 exerts anti-tumor effects in human cervical cancer cells•shRNA-mediated knock-down of HMG genes upregulates miR-142-3p levels•miR-142-3p can target HMGA1, A2, B1 and B3 directly by binding to their 3’UTR in cervical cancer cells•miR-142-3p mediated anti-tumorigenic effects are routed via HMG genes as their restoration partially rescues these effects•miR-142-3p inhibits metastasis in vivo (zebrafish tumor xenograft), EMT and NF-κB signaling