Objective To research the expressions of miR-196b and HoxB8 mRNA in colorectal cancer and theircorrelation with clinicopathologic features，and to explore the relationship between miR-196b and HoxB8 in vivo. Methods Expressions of RNA （including miR-196b and HoxB8 mRNA） and HoxB8 protein were detected respectively by using quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase PCR and Western blot in 30 cases of colorectal cancer and corresponding normalmucous membrane tissues. Results In colorectal cancer tissues，expressions of miR-196b and HoxB8 mRNA were higher than those of the corresponding normal mucous membrane tissues （P＜0.05）. Expression of miR196b mRNA was assoc-iated with lymph node metastasis，neoplasm stages （Ⅰ＋ⅡandⅢ＋Ⅳ），and distant metastasis （P＜0.05），on the otherhand，no significant differences were observed regarding tumor site，size，gross type，depth of invasion，tissue differentiation，age，and sex （P＞0.05）. Expression of HoxB8 mRNA was no significant differences concerning lymph node metastasis，tumor stages （Ⅰ＋Ⅱ，Ⅲ＋Ⅳ），distant metastasis，tumor site，size，gross type，depth of invasion，tissue differentiation，age，and sex （P＞0.05）. The expression of miR-196b mRNA was negatively correlated with HoxB8 mRNA expression （r=-0.458，P＜0.05），and HoxB8 protein expression with no obvious correlation （r=-0.236，P＞0.05） in colorectal cancer tissues. Conclusions The expressions of miR-196b and HoxB8 mRNA in colorectal cancer tissues are higher，the high expression of miR-196b mRNA is related to the tumorigenesis and progression of colorectal cancer as well as correlated with prognosis in colorectal cancer. The miR-196b inhibits the expression of HoxB8 mRNA by binding to the3′-UTR of target HoxB8 mRNA.
