--- - |2- Recently, increasing studies showed that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in tumor progression. However, the function and underlying mechanism of HOMEOBOX A11 antisense RNA (HOXA11‐AS) on renal cancer remain unclear. In the current study, our data showed that the expression of HOXA11‐AS was significantly upregulated in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) tissues and cell lines. High HOXA11‐AS expression was associated with the advanced clinical stage, tumor stage, and lymph node metastasis. Function assays showed that HOXA11‐AS inhibition significantly suppressed renal cancer cells growth, invasion, and ETM phenotype. In addition, underlying mechanism revealed that HOXA11‐AS could act as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) that repressed miR‐146b‐5p expression, which regulated its downstream target MMP16 in renal cancer. Taken together, our findings suggested that HOXA11‐AS could promote renal cancer cells growth and invasion by modulating miR‐146b‐5p–MMP16 axis. Thus, our findings suggested that HOXA11‐AS could serve as potential therapeutic target for the treatment of renal cancer. - Journal of Cellular Physiology, Volume 233, Issue 12, Page 9611-9619, December 2018.