BackgroundLncRNAs play a vital role in the tumorigenesis of gastric cancer (GC). The present study aims to explore the role of LINC01235 in clinical significance, prognostic prediction and GC metastasis.MethodsWe identified differentially expressed lncRNAs using stomach adenocarcinoma RNA-Seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The expression of LINC01235 in GC cell lines and tissues were confirmed by qRT-PCR assay. The overall survival analysis and univariate/ multivariate Cox regression analysis were performed to explore the prognostic value of LINC01235. In vitro assays were utilized to assess the effect of LINC01235 in cell migration and invasion. Western blotting measured the expression of EMT-induced proteins.ResultsThis study determined that LINC01235 expression has a higher fold changes by analyzing TCGA RNA-Seq data. qRT-PCR assay confirmed that LINC01235 is significantly over-expressed in GC cells and tissues. Additionally, the overall survival analysis showed that patients with a higher LINC01235 expression had a poorer prognosis than those with a lower LINC01235 expression. Univariate Cox regression analysis indicated that high LINC01235 expression is positively correlated with poor prognosis. Moreover, LINC01235 was an independent poor prognostic marker for GC in multivariate Cox analysis. In vitro assays suggested that LINC01235 knockdown suppresses GC cell migration and invasion. GSEA revealed that high LINC01235 expression is strongly enriched in EMT pathway. Western blotting results revealed that LINC01235 silencing decreases the expression of EMT-induced proteins.ConclusionLINC01235 could promote GC cell metastasis via EMT and function as a prognostic biomarker.