A member of miR-16 family, miR-424 has been found to be closely related with tumorigenesis, tumor progrssion, prognosis and therapy. This article reviews the expression changes, roles and possible regulating mechanisms of miR-424 in leukemia and various tumors such as breast, cervical, lung, liver and colorectal cancers. Recent studies have demonstrated that the expression of miR-424 is affected by many factors, and miR-424 could be a biomarker of diagnosis, staging and prognosis in cancers,to identify the area of tumor, and be a target of therapy.