miR-488 acts as a tumor suppressor gene in gastric cancer.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that modulate development, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. The deregulated expression of microRNAs is found in carcinogenesis including gastric cancer (GC). In this study, we showed that the expression levels of miR-488 were downregulated in GC tissues compared to in non-tumor tissues. In addition, the expression of miR-488 was also lower in GC cell lines in contrast with the gastric epithelial cell line (GES). In addition, the expression level of miR-488 was negatively correlated with the TNM stage in GC patients, and lower miR-488 expression was found in tumors with advanced TNM stage. The ectopic expression of miR-488 suppressed the GC cell proliferation, cell cycle, colony information, and migration. PAX6 was identified as a direct target gene of miR-488 in HGC-27. Moreover, we found that the expression level of PAX6 was upregulated in the GC tissues compared with the non-tumor tissues. The PAX6 expression level was correlated with the cancer TNM stage, and higher PAX6 expression was found in tumors with advanced TNM stage. Furthermore, there was an inverse correlation between PAX6 and miR-488 expression levels in GC tissues. Therefore, these studies demonstrated that miR-488 might act as a tumor suppressor miRNA in the development of GC.