Objective  To investigate the expression of miR-10b and its targeted gene HOXD10 in hepatic carcinoma cell lines and its influence on tumor invasion. Methods  Basic expression of HOXD10 gene in the three hepa-
tic carcinoma cell lines (Huh7, HepG2 and SMMC-7721) was determined. Mature mimics of miR-10b were chemically synthesized and transiently transfected into higher HOXD10-expression cell line HepG2 cells via lipofectamine 2000. Cells were also transfected with empty vectors and unrelated fragment to serve as negative controls. The invasion of HepG2 cells was investigated by Transwell assay. The expressions of HOXD10 were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. Results  The expression levels of gene and protein at 2- Δ Δ CT were (1.24 ± 0.23) and (1.00 ± 0.02) without significant difference (P > 0.05). In protein analysis of HepG2 cells, gray value was calculated to be 653.492 and 1968.742 respectively, and protein expression levels were reduced. Target gene HOXD10 was over-expressed in HepG2 cells and the ability of tumor invasion increased. Conclusions  Synthesized miRNA-10b can regulate the expression of target gene HOXD10 and promote the invasion of the hepatic carcinoma cells.