miR-30a Serves as a Tumor Suppressor for Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Downregulating ADAMTS14

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a very common malignancy in the world, but the effect of thera-pies on advanced HCC has not improved for decades. The present study aimed to investigate the role of miR-30a in the tumorigenesis of HCC. Methods: The expression of miR-30a and ADAMTS14 in HCC tissues were determined. Luciferase reporter gene detection confirmed the correlation between miR-30a and ADAMTS14. Cell viability and apoptosis rate were ex-amined using an MTT assay and flow cytometry. Cell migration and invasion ability were detected by a transwell assay. The protein expression of ADAMTS14, beta-catenin, GSK-3 beta, and p-GSK-3 beta were determined using western blotting. Results: miR-30a was negatively correlated with the expression of ADAMTS14 in HCC tissues. Further research confirmed that ADAMTS14 is the direct target of miR-30a. In addition, the expression of ADAMTS14, cell viabili-ty and apoptosis were suppressed by miR-30a overexpression, while knockdown of miR-30a led to the opposite re-sult. miR-30a also inhibits the phosphorylation of GSK-3 beta and beta-catenin, without changing the total GSK-3 beta level. Conclusions: miR-30a acts as a tumor suppressor in the progression of HCC and can be used as a biomarker for early prediction and diagnosis.