ZFPM2 and cancer: Based on the differences in the expression of these target genes in cancer and paracancerous tissues and the correlation between the expression levels of ZFPM2-AS1 and miR-139, we focused on GDF10 (protein and mRNA expression was significantly associated with ZFPM2-AS1 expression, with positive correlation, r = 0.7114 and 0.6116, P < 0.0001; and a significant negative correlation with the expression of miR-139, r = − 0.5040 and − 0.7094, P < 0.0001).