Postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO) is a common disease related to aging, which has been paid increasing attention in recent years because of its serious complications. MiR-491-3p has been illustrated to play a crucial role in several diseases. However, the role of miR-491-3p in PMO has been poorly reported. Our research intends to explore the impacts of miR-491-3p on PMO. The expression patterns of miR-491-3p and cathepsin S (CTSS) in patients with PMO were acquired from the GEO database. The

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... an osteoblast cell hFOB1.19 was used to detect the function of miR-491-3p and CTSS in PMO. The viability and apoptosis of hFOB1.19 cells were measured by cell counting kit 8 and flow cytometry assays. The apoptosis and differentiation-related proteins were analyzed by Western blotting. The interrelation between miR-491-3p and CTSS was predicted by biological software and affirmed by luciferase assay. Our outcomes indicated that miR-491-3p was lower expressed in patients with PMO and up-regulation of miR-491-3p increased the viability and differentiation of hFOB1.19 cells, and inhibited the apoptosis of hFOB1.19 cells. CTSS, which highly expressed in patients with PMO, was confirmed as a direct target of miR-491-3p and inversely modulated by miR-491-3p. And the rescue assays discovered that overexpression of CTSS suppressed the promoting effects of miR-491-3p mimic on hFOB1.19 cells proliferation and differentiation, and repressed the inhibitory effects of miR-491-3p mimic on hFOB1.19 cells apoptosis. Our outcomes illustrated that miR-491-3p could ameliorate hFOB1.19 cells biological characteristics through reducing CTSS, suggesting that miR-491-3p/CTSS might be potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of PMO.