Recently, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that lncRNAs can function as ceRNAs to sponge miRNAs, resulting in decreased miRNA expression in the cytoplasm and modulating the derepression of miRNA targets at the post-transcriptional level.29 HNF1A-AS1 was found to be distributed in both the nucleus and cytoplasm of gastric cancer cells via RNA-FISH (Fig. 4a, b). Here, HNF1A is linked to gastric cancer.