HOTAIR enhances the proliferation of irradiated‐BRCA cells through HSPA1A in vitro. The grouping of the test was as follows: Ctrl, IR (10 or 6 Gy), IR (10 or 6 Gy) + HOTAIR, IR (10 or 6 Gy) + HOTAIR+miR‐449b‐5p and IR (10 or 6 Gy) + HOTAIR+si‐HSPA1A. (a) The expression of HSPA1A at mRNA and protein levels in MDA‐MB‐231 cells from each group was assessed by real‐time PCR and western blot analysis, respectively. (b) The cell viability of MDA‐MB‐231 cells from each group was determined by CCK‐8 assay. () Ctrl, () IR 10 Gy, () IR 10 Gy + HOTAIR, () IR 10 Gy + HOTAIR+miR‐449b‐5p, () IR 10 Gy + HOTAIR + si‐HSPA1A (c and d) The proliferative ability of MDA‐MB‐231 cells from each group was validated by colony formation assay (c) and EdU incorporation assay (d, scale bar, 30 μM), respectively. The colony formation efficiency and percentage of EdU positive cells were calculated. Data are shown as mean ± SD of three independent experiments. Statistical significant differences are indicated: *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001; NS, no significance; Student's t‐test.