The present study aimed to investigate microRNA-376a (miR-376a) expression in
lymphoma, and to investigate the effect of miR-376a on cell proliferation and apoptosis at cytological and molecular levels. The expression of miR-376a in
lymphoma issue and cells was detected by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), the expression of
forkhead box protein P2 (FOXP2) was detected by RT-qPCR and western blot analysis, and the effect of miR-376a on cell proliferation and apoptosis were studied by an MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Additionally, the expression levels of
cyclin D2,
cyclin A,
cyclin B, apoptosis-associated
proteins B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and
Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) were detected by western blot analysis. Furthermore, the target of miR-376a was predicted and clarified using a dual-
luciferase reporter assay. The expression of miR-376a was downregulated and FOXP2 was upregulated in
lymphoma tissues and cells. miR-376a overexpression inhibited
lymphoma cell proliferation and induced apoptosis by regulating the expression levels of
cyclin D2,
cyclin A, Bax and Bcl-2. The dual-
luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that FOXP2 was a target of miR-376a. miR-376a overexpression induced apoptosis by targeting FOXP2. Overexpression of miR-376a inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis by targeting FOXP2 in
lymphoma. Therefore, miR-376a and FOXP2 have the potential for use as
biomarkers of
lymphoma.