MicroRNA‑376a inhibits cell proliferation and invasion in osteosarcoma via directly targeting SATB1

Aberrantly expressed microRNAs (miRs) are implicated in the regulation of osteosarcoma (OS) onset and development. Therefore, key miRs in OS must be identified to develop promising and effective therapeutic targets for patients with OS. In the present study, reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that miR‑376a‑3p expression was downregulated in OS tissues and cell lines. Additionally, decreased miR‑376a expression was associated with tumor size and lymph node infiltration. Restoration of miR‑376a expression reduced cell proliferation and invasion of OS. Furthermore, special AT‑rich sequence‑binding protein 1 (SATB1) was identified as a direct target gene of miR‑376a in OS cells. Furthermore, SATB1 was overexpressed in OS tissues and SATB1 overexpression was inversely correlated with the expression level of miR‑376a. In addition, ectopic SATB1 expression counteracted the inhibitory effects of miR‑376a overexpression on the proliferation and invasion of OS cells. All these results identified that reduced miR‑376a expression may be implicated in the mechanism underlying OS progression, suggesting that the miR‑376a/SATB1 axis may be a promising novel target for potential therapeutic methods for the effective treatment of patients with OS.