Objective  To study the effect and possible mechanism of thioridazine on the biological behavior of liver cancer Huh-7 cells.

Methods  Hepatocellular carcinoma Huh- 7 cells were randomly divided into a control group and low, medium, and high concentration groups of thiazidine. The miR-3174 mimics and its negative control, miR-3174 inhibitor and its negative control were transfectel to Huh-7 cells, and the miR-3174 mimics and its negative control were treated with thiolidazine. Effect of thioridazine on the proliferation of Huh-7 cells was assessed by CCK-8 method and plate cloning experiment; effect of thioridazine on the migration and invasion of Huh-7 cells was calculated using scratch healing test and Transwell experiment; effect of thioridazine on the expression of miR-3174 in Huh-7 cells was detected by RT-qPCR; E-cadherin and N-cadherin proteins expression was analyzed using Western blotting. The effects of interference with miR-3174 or miR-3174 up-regulation combined with thioridazine on the biological behavior of Huh-7 cells were detected by the above methods.

Results  After thiolidazine treatment and interference with miR-3174 expression, miR-3174 expression in Huh-7 cells was decreased, proliferation, migration and invasion ability, N-cadherin protein expression were decreased, and E-cadherin protein expression was increased (P<0.05). Up-regulating the expression of miR-3174 attenuated the effect of thiolidazine treatment on the malignant biological behavior of Huh-7 cells.

Conclusion  Thioridazine inhibits the proliferation, migration and invasion of liver cancer Huh-7 cells by down-regulating miR-3174 expression.

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