To identify lncRNAs involved in HIF-1 signalling pathway and hypoxia-associated cancer progression, we initially selected 37 cancer-associated lncRNAs (listed in Supplementary Data 1) according to previous reports8, 21 and examined their expression profiles in HeLa cells before and after hypoxia treatment using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT–PCR). This evidence concerns the gene HIF1A and cancer.