MicroRNA-1271-5p inhibits cell proliferation and enhances radiosensitivity by targeting CDK1 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract This study aims to determine whether miR-1271-5p inhibits cell proliferation and enhances the radiosensitivity by targeting cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Its expression levels in the HCC cell lines were significantly lower than those in normal human liver cell line. Bioinformatics analysis indicated CDK1 was a potential target of miR-1271-5p. Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay confirmed that CDK1 is a direct target gene of miR-1271-5p. With overexpression of miR-1271-5p in SMMC-7721 and HuH-7 cells, cell proliferation was decreased, radiosensitivity was enhanced, cell cycle distribution was altered and the growth of transplanted tumours in nude mice was significantly reduced. miR-1271-5p overexpression enhanced radiosensitivity, which could be reduced by CDK1 overexpression. Overall, our findings suggested that miR-1271-5p inhibits cell proliferation and enhances the radiosensitivity of HCC cell lines by targeting CDK1.