ObjectiveTo investigate the expression of microRNA (miRNA, miR)-141-3p in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and its effect on proliferation and invasion of HCC.MethodsBioinformatics tools were used to predict putative miRs with search potential downstream gene–GP73, hsa-miR-141-3p was selected for further analysis and observations. A dual-luciferase reporter assay was performed to validate GP73 as a target of hsa-miR-141-3p. Real time PCR (qRT-PCR) or Western blot was performed to measure the expression level of miR-141-3p and GP73 in HCC and adjacent tissue. MTT, EdU, and Transwell were used to measure cell proliferation and migration.ResultsIt was identified that the expression level of miR-141-3p was significantly lower in the HCC tissues than that of adjacent tissues (P<0.05), but different in GP73 mRNA and its protein (P<0.05). Clinical analysis indicated that decreased miR-141-3p expression was significantly correlated with advanced tumor grade, advanced TNM stage, and vascular invasion (P<0.05). MTT assay showed that the absorbance (A) value of Huh-7 cells transfected with miR-141-3p overexpression plasmid was significantly decreased compared with the miR-negative control (NC) group (transfected empty plasmid) and the blank control group (P<0.05).The EdU detection results showed that the ratio of EdU positive cells in Huh-7 and MHCC-97H cells were lower than those in the blank control group and the miR-NC group after transfection of miR-141-3p (P<0.05). Transwell test found that after transfection of miR-141-3p, the number of invading cells and the number of migrated cells in MHCC-97H cells were lower than those in the blank control group and the miR-NC group (P<0.05). The results of cytological function recovery experiments showed that the number of invading cells and the number of migrated cells in MHCC-97H cells of miR-141-3p+GP73 group were lower than those in blank control group and miR-NC group (P<0.05), but higher than those of the miR-141-3p group and miR-141-3p+GP73-NC group (P<0.05).ConclusionsThe present study revealed that miR-141-3p is reduced in HCC tissues. Additionally, GP73 expression levels are negatively correlated to miR-141-3p in HCC tissues, and that is associated with the progression of HCC. Overexpression of miR-141-3p significantly inhibit proliferation, invasion, and migration of HCC cells.Reversal of partial inhibition of miR-141-3p can be achieved by restoring the expression of the GP73 gene without the 3′ untranslated region (UTR).