In the current study, we aimed at elucidating the regulatory mechanisms through which microR-1187 (miR-1187) participates in hepatocyte apoptosis in acute liver failure (ALF). An ALF model was induced with D-galactosamine (D-GalN) plus lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in BALB/c mice. The hepatic miRNA expression profile was detected by microarray analysis and verified by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The possible underlying mechanism was investigated in vitro using an embryonic murine hepatocyte cell line (BNLCL2) and miR-1187 mimic. Caspase-8 protein was detected by Western blotting and cell apoptosis was assayed by flow cytometry. Hepatic miR-1187 was down-regulated in ALF mice based on microarray data (P<0.001) and verified by qRT-PCR (P<0.01). Target scan revealed that caspase-8 was the putative target of miR-1187. In an in vitro study, miR-1187 showed the highest up-regulation in BNLCL2 cells transfected with the miR-1187 mimic at a 50 nM concentration for 12 h compared with cells transfected with the non-specific mimic (P<0.001). miR-1187 was down-regulated (P<0.01) but caspase-8 mRNA (P<0.01) as well as protein (P<0.05) were up-regulated in the BNLCL2 cells treated with D-GalN/TNF. Furthermore, overexpressed miR-1187 reduced caspase-8 expression at both the mRNA and protein levels significantly (P<0.01 and P<0.05 respectively), and significantly attenuated the apoptotic rate of BNLCL2 cells (P<0.05). We show that miR-1187 regulates hepatocyte apoptosis by targeting caspase-8. miR-1187 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of ALF.