BACKGROUND: Bile duct carcinoma is a common digestive tract tumor with high morbidity and mortality. As a kind of important non-coding RNA, microRNA (miR) plays an important role in post-transcriptional regulation. MiR-122 is the most abundant miR in the liver. Multiple studies have shown that miR-122 level is reduced in a variety of liver tumors and can be used as a specific marker for liver injury. P53 is a classic tumor suppressor gene that can induce tumor cell apoptosis through various pathways. Whether miR-122 affects p53 in bile duct carcinoma still needs investigation.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: miR inhibitor or mimics was transfected to bile duct carcinoma cells to evaluate its function on proliferation, invasion, apoptosis, and p53 expression.

RESULTS: MiR-122 overexpression reduced cell invasion and migration ability, and inhibited cell apoptosis and p53 expression. Inhibiting miR-122 caused the opposite results.

CONCLUSIONS: Upregulating miR-122 can suppress bile duct carcinoma cell proliferation and induce apoptosis. MiR-122 could be used as a target for bile duct carcinoma treatment, which provides a new strategy for cholangiocarcinoma patients.

Keywords: Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic - pathology, Bile Duct Neoplasms - pathology, Apoptosis - genetics, Cholangiocarcinoma - pathology, Genes, p53, Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 - genetics