Objective        To determine the expression of miR-149-5p in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its clinical significance.       Methods        The expression of miR-149-5p in 40 pairs of HCC tissue samples and adjacent noncancerous liver tissues were tested by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The relationship between the expression and clinical pathological data was analyzed. MHCC97-H cells were infected by lentiviral vectors with red fluorescent proteins (RFP) for the reporter gene to over-express miR-149-5p (LV-miR-149-5p). Then MTT assay was carried out to analyze cell proliferation. Flow cytometry was performed to analyze cell cycle. Transwell invasion assay was accomplished to analyze cell invasion ability.        Results        The results of qRT-PCR suggested that the relative expression of miR-149-5p in HCC (5.522±1.104) was lower than in  the adjacent noncancerous liver tissues (9.279±1.594

P0.05). Statistical analysis showed that the relative expression ratio of cancer and adjacent noncancerous liver tissues was correlated negatively with α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels (P0.05). In vitro experiments confirmed that over-expression of miR-149-5p didn’t affect the cell cycle but inhibited cell proliferation (P0.05). And in transwell invasion assay

the cells through the matrigel were 86.3±11.8

83.7±4.0

50.6±3.4 in control group

control lentiviral treatment group

and LV-miR-149-5p treatment group

respectively. The invasive ability of experimental group was significantly reduced than that of control group (P0.05).       Conclusion       Over-expression of miR-149-5p could inhibit the proliferation and invasion of MHCC97-H cells. Therefore

miR-149-5p might act as a tumor suppressor gene in HCC diagnosis and treatment.