Further mechanism studies highlighted that SNHG16 may function as ceRNA by directly sponge to miRNA and thereby regulating target genes in cancers, such as miR-205/ZEB1 in osteosarcoma [15], hsa-miR-93 in HCC [22], miR-4518/PRMT5 or miR-20a-5p/E2F1 in glioma [20, 21], miR-146a/MUC5AC in NSCLC [11], miR-98/E2F5 in breast cancer [23], miR-216A-5p/ZEB1 in cervical cancer [26], miR-140-5p/ZEB1 in ESCC [19], miR-98/STAT3 in bladder cancer [17], and hsa-miR-124-3p in acute lymphoblastic leukemia [53]. Here, MUC5AC is linked to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.