MiR‐140‐5p is a target of lncRNA AK002107. (A) Bioinformatics analysis identified the putative binding sites for lncRNA AK002107 in the miR‐140‐5p sequence. (B) Luciferase activity was determined in 293T cells cotransfected with miRNAs (control mimics or miR‐140‐5p mimics) and a reporter vector containing lncRNA AK002107 segments (WT or MUT) that bind to miR‐140‐5p. *P < 0.05. (C) The expression of miR‐140‐5p in six human HCC cell lines, including MHCC97H, MHCC97L, BEL7402, SMMC7721, Hep3B, and HepG2, was downregulated compared to the normal cell line LO2, as determined using qRT‐PCR. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01. (D) The expression of miR‐140‐5p was detected in BEL7402 and MHCC97H cells using qRT‐PCR after the transduction of lentiviruses encoding lncRNA AK002107 short hairpin RNA (shRNA)‐1, shRNA‐2, or scrambled shRNA. All qPCR results shown as data from at least two independent replicates. Statistical analyses using one‐way ANOVA with Tukey's post‐test, *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01.