Dysregulation of miR-23b-5p Promotes Cell Proliferation via Targeting FOXM1 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Gain- or loss-of-function assays demonstrated that miR-23b-5p induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and inhibited cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. qRT-PCR, western blot and luciferase assays verified that Mammalian transcription factor Forkhead Box M1 (FOXM1), upregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma specimens, was negatively correlated with miR-23b-5p expression and acted as a direct downstream target of miR-23b-5p.