OBJECTIVE: To investigate the potential effect of miR-1182 on the development of ovarian cancer and the relevant mechanism. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression levels of miR-1182 were detected in ovarian cancer tissues and cells (SKOV3) comparing with corresponding adjacent normal tissues and normal ovarian cell (IOSE80). Luciferase assay was performed to evaluate the interaction between miR-1182 and hTERT. The effects of the miR-1182/hTERT axis on SKOV3 cells were determined by subsequent experiments including cell proliferation, expression level of hTERT, the invasion and metastasis detection. RESULTS: miR-1182 was found repressed in ovarian cancer tissues and we got the same results at the cellular level. In order to research potential target of miR-1182, we checked it in three publicly available algorithms, TargetScan, miRDB and microRNA. We found that hTERT is a direct target of miR-1182, and luciferase assays confirmed our hypothesis. The subsequent experiments showed that decreased expression of hTERT resulting from the up-regulation of miR-1182 could decelerate cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis in ovarian cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our research discovers the suppressor function of miR-1182 in ovarian cancer by targeting hTERT, revealing that miR-1182/hTERT axis may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of ovarian cancer.