We silenced the expression of lnc171 after ethanol stimulation to detect the expression level of mir-873-5p and ZEB1 in HCC cells and found that ethanol irritation could increase the expression level of lnc171 and ZEB1 but decrease the level of mir-873-5p; nevertheless, when si171 was transfected after ethanol stimulation, the expression of lnc171 and ZEB1 was clearly down-regulated but mir-873-5p was up-regulated (p < 0.05) (Fig. 7a). This evidence concerns the gene ZEB1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.