MicroRNAs (
miRNAs) are frequently dysregulated in
cervical cancer, and the aberrant regulation of
miRNAs may be involved in the regulation of various
cancer-associated biological processes. Therefore, further exploration of the specific roles of dysregulated
miRNAs in
cervical cancer and their associated mechanism may promote the development of effective therapeutic approaches. miRNA-889-3p (miR-889) serves crucial roles in
esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and
hepatocellular carcinoma. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies concerning the relationship between miR-889 and
cervical cancer were performed. The aims of this study were to measure miR-889 expression in
cervical cancer and to examine the potential effects of miR-889 in
cervical cancer development on a molecular level to provide potential clinical insight. The present study revealed that miR-889 was downregulated in
cervical cancer tissues and cell lines. Reduced miR-889 expression was significantly associated with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics
cancer staging and with
lymph node metastasis. In addition, miR-889 overexpression reduced
cervical cancer cell viability and invasive ability. Using bioinformatics analysis,
fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) was predicted to be a potential target of miR-889, which was confirmed using
luciferase reporter assay. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blot analysis results suggested that miR-889 overexpression decreased FGFR2 expression in
cervical cancer cells at the
mRNA and the
protein level, respectively. Conversely, FGFR2 silencing using
small interfering RNA imitated the
tumor suppressive effects of miR-889 overexpression in
cervical cancer cells, which was successfully reversed by plasmid-facilitated FGFR2 overexpression. These observations demonstrated that miR-889 may serve
tumor suppressive roles in
cervical cancer by directly targeting FGFR2, which indicated that this
miRNA may be a promising therapeutic target for patients with
cervical cancer.