HCAL that was highly expressed in HCC tissues.HCAL upregulation was clinically associated with poor differentiation, intravascular cancer embolus,and decreased survival of patients with HCC.HCAL silencing significantly inhibited the growth and metastasis of HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo.HCAL directly interacted with and functioned as a sponge for microRNAs such as miR-15a, miR-196a, and miR-196b to modulate LAPTM4B expression.the presence of a novel lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network, the HCAL-miR-15a/miR-196a/miR-196b-LAPTM4B network,in HCC and indicate that HCAL may be a potential target for treating HCC.