Abstract
Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. Due to the lack of early diagnosis and effective treatment, the outcome of treatment and prognosis is poor. MicroRNA‑145 (miR‑145) is downregulated in various cancer types. In the present study, miR‑145 expression was detected by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction in gastric cancer cell lines and normal gastric epithelial cells. The function of miR‑145 in the gastric cancer cell line SGC‑7901 was investigated. The present results demonstrated that the expression of miR‑145 was downregulated in gastric cancer cells. Further analysis identified that upregulation of miR‑145 significantly suppressed SGC‑7901 cell proliferation, increased cellular apoptosis and blocked the cell cycle in the G1 phase. Additionally, overexpression of miR‑145 reduced SGC‑7901 cell invasion and metastasis in vitro. Western blot analysis demonstrated that overexpression of miR‑145 downregulated Myc proto‑oncogene protein, phosphoinositide 3‑kinase/protein kinase B and matrix metalloproteinase 2/9, and upregulated p21 in SGC‑7901 cells. The present results revealed potential signaling pathways that miR‑145 may use to regulate gastric cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis and metastasis. Collectively, the present results suggest that miR‑145 is a tumor suppressor for gastric cancer and it may be a potential therapeutic target for gastric cancer treatment.