The results showed that inhibition of miR-103a-3p caused a significant enhancement in green fluorescence and a clear drop in red fluorescence (P < 0.001, Fig. 8A, B), indicating that inhibition of miR-103a-3p led to a significant decline in MMP, which was consistent with the finding that overexpressing EVA1A significantly reduced the MMP of HCC cells [10]. Here, EVA1A is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.