miR-320 regulates FOXM1 expression levels by directly targeting the 3′UTR of FOXM1 in cervical cancer. (A) miR-320-binding site in the 3′UTR of FOXM1 identified using PicTar, TargetScan and miRanda databases, and the FOXM1 3′UTR mutant sequence. (B) Western blot analysis of FOXM1 protein expression in HeLa cells following transfection with the miR-320 mimic or NC, and SiHa cells transfected with miR-320 inhibitor or NC inhibitor. β-actin was used as a loading control. (C) miR-320 decreased the FOXM1-3′UTR site 1 Wt and FOXM1-3′UTR site 2 Wt luciferase activity, but not the FOXM1-3′UTR site 1 Mut and FOXM1-3′UTR site 2 Mut luciferase activity in HEK293T cells. *P<0.05 vs. respective controls. miR, microRNA; FOXM1, forkhead box M1; UTR, untranslated region; NC, negative control; Wt, wild-type; Mut, mutant; hsa, human.