miR-520a-3p expression is decreased in GC tissues and cell lines. (A) miR-520a-3p expression was detected via reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis in 80 GC tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. **P<0.01 vs. adjacent non-tumor tissues (B) miR-520a-3p expression was analyzed in three GC cell lines (SGC-7901, BGC-823, and MGC-803) compared with in a normal gastric epithelial cell line (GES-1). The levels of miR-520a-3p expression were normalized to U6. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 vs. GES-1. miR, microRNA; GC, gastric cancer.