Silencing MCM3AP-AS1 expression inhibits cell proliferation and colony formation by regulating the miR-138-5p/FOXK1 axis in pancreatic cancer (Yang et al., 2019) and plays the same role by controlling the miR-211-5p/SPARC pathway in papillary thyroid cancer (Liang et al., 2019). This evidence concerns the gene SPARC and thyroid gland papillary carcinoma.