Abstract: Objective : To study the expression of the miR-181 family, including miR-181a, miR-181b and miR-181c, in specimens of cerebral glioma with real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. Methods : Tissues from 15 cases of glioma grouped by pathological results and 5 samples of normal human brain were collected after neurosurgical operations. Total miRNA was extracted and the relative expression of miR-181a, miR-181b and miR-181c was quantified by real-time fluorescence quantitative RT-PCR, and the correlation of the miR-181 family members'expression with glioma grade was analyzed by SPSS software. Results : miR-181a and miR-181b were down-regulated in gliomas of all grades, and miR-181a expression showed a downward trend as glioma grade increased. The expression of miR-181b showed no changes in gliomas of grades higher than WHO-III. miR-181c expression was down-regulated in gliomas of WHO-IV, but showed no changes in gliomas of WHO-II and WHO-III. Conclusion : miR-181a, miR-181b and miR-181c show different low levels of expression in glioma, and miR-181a expression is negatively correlated with tumor grade.