MicroRNA-203 leads to G1 phase cell cycle arrest in laryngeal carcinoma cells by directly targeting survivin

► Overexpression of miR-203 inhibits laryngeal cancer cell proliferation. ► Survivin is a direct target of miR-203 in laryngeal cancer cells. ► Survivin plays a critical role in miR-203-induced G1 phase cell cycle arrest. ► Survivin mRNA inversely correlates with miR-203 in human laryngeal carcinoma. Previous studies have shown that miR-203 acts as a tumor-suppressive microRNA in various cancers, but its roles in laryngeal carcinoma are still contradicted. Here, we found that miR-203 inhibited the growth of laryngeal cancer cells and survivin was a direct target of miR-203. Moreover, silencing of survivin recapitulated the effect of miR-203 on cell cycle progression, whereas overexpression of survivin reversed this effect. Additionally, qRT-PCR showed the reciprocal relationship between miR-203 and survivin in laryngeal cancer tissues. These findings indicate that miR-203 inhibits the proliferation of laryngeal carcinoma cells by directly targeting survivin, suggesting its application in anti-cancer therapeutics.