Chondrocyte is involved in the destruction of joints in osteoarthritis (OA) patients.The aim of this study was to explore the expression level of small nucleolar RNA host gene 5 (SNHG5) and evaluate its function in chondrocyte.In our current study,the expression levels of SNHG5,miR-26a,and SOX2 in 17 pairs of articular cartilage tissues and in the non-OA group were assessed by realtime quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction.Results showed that the levels of SNHG5 and SOX2 were significantly downregulated in OA tissues,while the level of miR-26a was upregulated.MTT,colony formation and cell transwell assays were performed to assess the function of SNHG5 on the cell viability,growth ability,and migration capacity in CHON-001 cells.It was found that SNHG5 could promote chondrocyte cell proliferation and migration.The relationship between SNHG5 and miR-26a was confirmed by RIP and the luciferase reporter assays.SOX2 was identified as a target gene of miR-26a by the luciferase reporter assay.Rescue assay was applied to verify the relationship among SNHG5,miR-26a,and SOX2.Our current study demonstrated that SNHG5 is involved in the mechanism of OA through functioning as a ceRNA to competitively sponge miR-26a,therefore,regulating the expression of SOX2.