PTGS2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Our results show that miR-16 silences COX-2 expression in hepatoma cells by two mechanisms: a) by binding directly to the microRNA response element (MRE) in the COX-2 3′-UTR promoting translational suppression of COX-2 mRNA; b) by decreasing the levels of the RNA-binding protein Human Antigen R (HuR).