MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important gene regulators whose dysregulations can be involved in tumorigenesis. β-catenin, the main agent in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, controls various genes and its over-expression has been discovered in different kinds of cancers including Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). Extensive research demonstrated that the Wnt signaling is one of the major affected pathways in HCC. This study aimed to find miRNA targeting β-catenin gene by bioinformatic approaches and confirm this correlation to propose new therapeutic targets for HCC. Prediction of miRNAs targeting 3′-Untranslated Regions (UTR) of β-catenin mRNA, were done using different types of credible bioinformatic databases. The luciferase assay was also recruited for further confirmation of the bioinformatic predictions. In the first step, the expression of β-catenin was assessed in the HepG2 cell line by real-time PCR technique. Next, transduction of HepG2 cells were done by lentiviral vectors containing the desired miRNA. Then, the expression level of miRNA and the β-catenin gene were evaluated. Based on the results obtained from different bioinformatic databases, miR-214 was selected as the potential miRNA with the highest probability in targeting β-catenin. Furthermore, Luciferase assay results confirmed the accuracy of our bioinformatic prediction. In line with our hypothesis, after the overexpression of miR-214 in HepG2 cells, β-catenin gene expression was reduced significantly. Gathered results indicate the miRNAs role in the down-regulation of their target genes. Hence, the results propose that miR-214 can prevent HCC development by suppressing β-catenin and may supply a newfound approach towards HCC therapy in humans.

微小RNA（miRNA）是重要的基因调节剂，其失调可能与肿瘤发生有关。Wnt /β-catenin途径中的主要药物β-catenin控制着各种基因，在包括肝细胞癌（HCC）在内的各种癌症中都发现了它的过度表达。广泛的研究表明，Wnt信号传导是肝癌的主要影响途径之一。这项研究旨在通过生物信息学方法找到靶向β-catenin基因的miRNA，并证实这种相关性，为HCC提出新的治疗靶标。使用不同类型的可靠生物信息数据库对靶向β-cateninmRNA 3'-非翻译区（UTR）的miRNA进行了预测。还招募了荧光素酶测定法以进一步确认生物信息学预测。在第一步中 采用实时荧光定量PCR技术检测HepG2细胞中β-catenin的表达。接下来，通过含有所需miRNA的慢病毒载体转导HepG2细胞。然后，评估miRNA和β-连环蛋白基因的表达水平。基于从不同的生物信息数据库获得的结果，miR-214被选为靶向β-catenin可能性最高的潜在miRNA。此外，萤光素酶测定结果证实了我们生物信息学预测的准确性。与我们的假设一致，miR-214在HepG2细胞中过度表达后，β-catenin基因表达明显降低。收集的结果表明，miRNA在其靶基因下调中的作用。因此，