A close relationship between cancer progression and microRNAs (miRNAs) regulation has been demonstrated.Abnormal microRNA-206 (miR-206) expression has been shown to be related to the development of malignancies.However,the role of miR-206 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear.Here,we evaluated the function of miR-206 in HCC.Results showed that miR-206 expression was decreased in 27 human HCC tissues compared with that of adjacent normal tissues.Conversely,cMET was up-regulated in human HCC cancer tissues,and cMET levels were shown to be negatively correlated with miR-206 expression.Abnormally increased miR-206expression in three HCC cell lines (SMMC-7721,HepG2,and Huh7) attenuated cell viability,migration,and invasion.Increased apoptosis was also observed in these miR-206 expressing cells.Furthermore,we identified that miR-206 targets the 3’-UTR of the cMET gene for silencing,and restoration of cMET expression reversed the inhibitory effect of miR-206 on HCC.Tumor cells expressing miR-206 also showed delayed growth in the in vivo experiments compared with the controls.Altogether,our findings provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms of HCC oncogenesis.