ABSTRACT
Osteosarcoma is one of the most common primary malignant bone cancers in juveniles and adults. Increasingly, reports indicate that microRNAs (miRNAs) may provide novel therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of miR125a5p and to identify its functional significance in osteosarcoma. This indicated that miR125a5p was downregulated in osteosarcoma tissue and cell lines using reverse transcriptionquantitative polymerase chain reaction. Following transfection with miR125a5p mimics or the negative control, cell migration, invasion and epithelialmesenchymal transition (EMT) assays were conducted in osteosarcoma cells. These results indicated that the overexpression of miR125a5p resulted in inhibited osteosarcoma cell migration, invasion and EMT in vitro. Furthermore, mechanistic studies showed that matrix metallopeptidase11 (MMP11), was a direct target of miR125a5p in osteosarcoma. Taken together, the data demonstrate that miR125a5p functions as a tumor suppressor gene and serves an important role in inhibiting osteosarcoma cell migration, invasion and EMT by targeting MMP11.