MAPKAPK5 and hepatocellular carcinoma: As expected, miR-154-5p was down-regulated in HCC tissue (p < 0.0001, Fig. 5f and Additional File 6: Fig. S4C) and exhibited a negative correlation with the expression of MAPKAPK5-AS1 (r = − 0.6420, p < 0.0001, Fig. 5g).