The liver-specific microRNA-122*, the complementary strand of microRNA-122, acts as a tumor suppressor by modulating the p53/mouse double minute 2 homolog circuitry.

miR-122*, the passenger strand of miR-122, regulates the activity of p53 by targeting Mdm2. Importantly, similarly to miR-122, miR-122* is significantly down-regulated in human HCC. We therefore propose that miR-122* is an important contributor to the tumor suppression activity previously attributed solely to miR-122. (Hepatology 2016;64:1623-1636).