Objective To investigate the expression level of miR-196a in gastric cancer（GC）tissues and cell lines， to study the effect of inhibition or up-regulation of miR-196a expression on GC cells migration and invasion，and to find out the possible target gene. Methods Real-time quantitative PCR was performed to detect the relative expression of miR-196a in GC cell lines and tissues. MiR-196a inhibitors or mimics were transfected into MGC-803 cells to down-regulate or up-regulate miR-196a expression， and Real-time quantitative PCR was used to test the transfection efficiency. Wound healing， transwell and MTT assays were performed to detect the effect of miR-196a on GC cells migration，invasion and proliferation. Bioinformatics and Western blotting analysis were performed to investigate the target genes that could be regulated by miR-196a. Results This study showed that miR-196a was highly expressed both in GC samples and cell lines compared with their corresponding normal tissues and cell lines （approximately 28 folds， P＜0.01）. Transfection of miR-196a inhibitors or mimics could significantly decrease （53％， P＜0.01） or increase（approximately 8 folds，P＜0.01） its expression in MGC-803 cells， respectively. And down-regulation of miR-196a expression could inhibit MGC-803 cells migration，invasion and proliferation by down-regulating HOXA5 expression. Conclusion Up-regulated miR-196a could promote gastric cancer cells migration and invasion by inhibiting the expression of HOXA5，which may affect the development of gastric cancer.