Abstract:Objective?To investigate the role of miR-494 in gastric cancer proliferation, cell cycle progression and apoptosis.?Methods?The gastric cancer and corresponding adjacent tissues (at least 2 cm away from the tumor margins) were surgically removed from 60 patients admitted to our hospital from January 2015 to January 2018. The gastric cancer MGC803 cells were divided into miR-494 group and control group. The expression of miR-494 in gastric cancer tissues and the cultured cells in vitro was detected by PCR. MTT assay and flow cytometry assay were used to detect cell proliferation, cell cycle and apoptosis. PCR and immunoblotting were used to detect CyclinD1 expression.?Results?The miR-494 expression was down-regulated in gastric cancer tissues (t =?5.421, P?0.001) and associated with large tumor size (?>?3?cm, t?=?1.844, P?=?0.041) and advanced TNM stage (III?+?IV, t =?1.969, P?=?0.028). Up-regulation of miR-494 inhibited proliferation (t?=?3.868, P?=?0.022) and cell cycle progression (t?=?3.721, P?=?0.023), but had no effect on apoptosis (t =?1.034, P?=0.063) in MGC803 cells. The expression of CyclinD1 was impaired due to the overexpression of miR-494 in vitro (P 0.05). Moreover, the negative relationship between CyclinD1 IHC scores and miR-494 levels was confirmed in clinical samples (r?=?-0.469, P?=?0.009).?Conclusions The expression of miR-494 was down-regulated in gastric cancer tissues. Up-regulation of miR-494 could inhibit gastric tumor cell proliferation and cell cycle progression through inhibiting CyclinD1.