The long non-coding RNA–HLA complex P5 (HCP5) has been found to be overexpressed in follicular thyroid carcinoma and functions as a sponge for miR-22-3p, miR-186-5p and miR-216a-5p, which activates ST6GAL2 to promote disease progression (Liang et al., 2018b). Here, ST6GAL2 is linked to thyroid gland follicular carcinoma.