Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of functional blocking of endogenous miR-23a with a specific antisense
oligonucleotide (ASO) on the proliferation and invasiveness of gastric adenocarcinoma cell line MGC803 in vitro. Methods A
specific ASO targeting miR-23a, namely ASO-23a, was transfected into MGC803 cells to block endogenous miR-23a. The
mRNA level of miR-23a in the transfected cells was detected with quantitative real-time PCR. The changes of cell proliferation
following the transfection were detected with MTT assay and colony formation assay, and TUNEL assay and Transwell assay
were employed to evaluate the changes in cell apoptosis and invasiveness, respectively. Results Quantitative real-time PCR
demonstrated efficient functional blocking of endogenous miR-23a in MGC803 cells by ASO-23a. Suppression of miR-23a with
ASO-23a obviously inhibited cell growth, colony formation and invasiveness of MGC803 cells and significantly enhanced the
cell apoptosis. Conclusion ASO-23a can efficiently block the function of endogenous miR-23a in MGC803 cells to inhibit cell
proliferation and invasion and promote cell apoptosis.