Introduction: Micro (mi)RNAs negatively regulate gene expression at the transcriptional level by binding to complementary regions in the 3’-UTR. They play important roles in biological processes such as proliferation, metabolism, differentiation and apoptosis. Aberrant expression of miRNAs contributes to several diseases including cancer. Although several miRNAs have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), the function of most of the aberrantly expressed miRNAs is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the role of miRNAs and the underlying mechanism in HL. Results: Small RNA-seq revealed 84 significantly differentially expressed miRNAs in HL cell lines as compared to GC-B cells, including 55 up- and 29 downregulated miRNAs. QRT-PCR validation confirmed the differential expression pattern as observed with small RNA sequencing for 15 out of 19 selected miRNAs. Among the upregulated miRNAs, miR-23a, miR-24 and miR-27a were transcribed from one primary miRNA transcript. Loss-of-function analysis for these 3 miRNAs and their family members resulted in decreased growth upon miR-24 inhibition in L428, L1236 and KMH2 and upon inhibition of miR-27a/b in L1236. No effect on cell growth was observed upon inhibition of miR-23a/b. Apoptosis analysis upon miR-24 inhibition revealed increased percentage of apoptosis cells, indicating that the decreased cell growth upon miR-24 inhibition was at least in part caused by an increase in apoptosis. To identify the target genes of these miRNAs we performed argonaute 2 (AGO2)-IP in four HL cell lines. This revealed 1,142 consistently AGO2-enriched genes. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed significant enrichment of the miR-23a/b, miR-24 and miR-27a/b miRNA target gene sets in the IP fraction. Furthermore, 51 out of 1,142 genes were predicated targets of miR-24 based on Targetscan, including 4 out of 5 proven miR-24 targets. Functional annotation analysis revealed a function related to cell growth, cell death and/or apoptosis for 15 out of the 52 genes. Western blotting for 2 of these genes, i.e. CDKN1B and MYC, showed downregulation at the protein level upon miR-24 inhibition. Conclusion: A total of 84 miRNAs were significant differently expressed in HL cell lines compared to GC-B cells. MiR-24 has an oncogenic role in HL by inhibiting apoptosis.