miR-342-3p suppresses proliferation, migration and invasion by targeting FOXM1 in human cervical cancer

•We reported that FOXM1 was directly targeted by miR-342-3p.•miR-342-3p inhibits cell proliferation, migration and invasion in cervical cells.•miR-342-3p is down-regulated along with its host gene, EVL, in human cervical cancer.•FOXM1 is upregulated and negatively correlates with miR-342-3p in cervical cancer. FOXM1 is a well-established oncogenic factor that has been reported to be involved in multiple biological processes including cell proliferation, growth, angiogenesis, migration and invasion. It can also be regulated by miRNAs. In this study, we reported that FOXM1 is directly targeted by miR-342-3p, which is down-regulated along with its host gene, EVL, in human cervical cancer tissues compared to the adjacent normal tissues. Functional studies suggested that the overexpression of miR-342-3p inhibits cell proliferation, migration and invasion in cervical cell lines. FOXM1 is upregulated and negatively correlates with miR-342-3p in cervical cancer tissues, and the overexpression of FOXM1 rescues the phenotype changes induced by the overexpression of miR-342-3p.