In this study, we analyzed the functional role of miR-661 in glioma cell proliferation, migration and invasion. We found that overexpression of miR-661 obviously suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion of glioma cells. MiRNA target prediction algorithms implied that hTERT is a candidate target gene for miR-661. A fluorescent reporter assay confirmed that miR-661 could lead to hTERT gene silencing by recognizing and specifically binding to the predicted site of the hTERT mRNA 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) specifically. Furthermore, hTERT knockdown significantly decreased the growth and viability of glioma cells. These results indicate that miR-661 can inhibit glioma cell proliferation, migration and invasion by targeting hTERT. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.