Objective To investigate the effect of microRNA-592(miR-592) on the apoptosis of glioma cell line U251.Methods PCR was used to measure the expression of miR-592 in glioma tissue and adjacent tissue.U251 cells were transfected with miR-592 mimics and then flow cytometry was used to analyze the effect of miR-592 overexpression on the apoptosis of U251 cells.A bioinformatics analysis was used to identify the potential target molecules of miR-592,and then dual-luciferase reporter assay and Western blot were used for validation.U251 cells were transfected with the small interfering RNA (siRNA) which downregulated the expression of Runx2,and then the cell growth curve was plotted and the apoptosis of U251 cells was analyzed.Results The results of quantitative PCR for 28 glioma tissues and normal tissues showed that the expression of miR-592 was significantly reduced in glioma tissues and miR-592 overexpression significantly inhibited the growth of U251 cells.Flow cytometry showed that miR-592 significantly promoted the apoptosis of U251 cells;the late apoptosis rate was 7.2%±0.68% in the control group and 17.47%±1.45% in the miR-592 transfection group.Dual-luciferase reporter assay and Western blot showed that miR-592 directly targeted 3'-UTR of Runx2 to inhibit the level of Runx2 protein.U251 cells were transfected with the siRNA of Runx2;the cell growth curve was plotted,and flow cytometry was used to analyze the apoptosis rate of U251 cells.Conclusions miR-592 directly targets Runx2 to induce the apoptosis of U251 cells and thus inhibit cell growth.