Yes-associated protein (YAP) contributes to the development of multiple tumors, but the post transcription modulation of YAP remains unexplored. Here, we present a new regulatory microRNA of YAP, miR-361, which directly targets YAP to inhibit cell proliferation in lung cancer. We used bioinformatics to predict that miR-361 could target 3'-untranslated region (3'UTR) of YAP mRNA. Luciferase reporter gene assays demonstrated that miR-361 could decrease the luciferase activities of 3'UTR vector of YAP. Furthermore, YAP expression was obviously abated by miR-361 using RT-PCR and immunoblotting in lung cancer A549 cells. In terms of function, MTT and colony formation analysis showed that ectopic miR-361 expression significantly suppressed cell proliferation in lung cancer. Notably, overexpressed YAP accelerated miR-361-bated proliferation of lung cancer cells. MiR-361 inhibitor promoted cell proliferation in lung cancer, but YAP RNA interference reversed miR-361 inhibitor-driven cell proliferation. Interestingly, miR-361 was capable of affecting the cell cycle in lung cancer progression. Finally, the negative correlation of miR-361 with YAP was found in clinical human lung cancer tissues. In conclusion, miR-361 targets 3'UTR of YAP mRNA to depress the proliferation of lung cancer cells. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Inc.