For expression studies, along with the 6 miRNAs, miR-140-5p which were shown to control the tumor metastasis in HNSCC and miR-181a-3p, an oral cancer-specific upregulated miRNA that was included as a background control to study lncRNA OIP5-AS1’s sponging activity. Here, OIP5 is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.