Objective To detect the expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) DOCK9-AS2 in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and its effects on the proliferation and migration of PTC cells. Methods PTC samples and the corresponding adjacent tissues were collected from The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University during June 2016 and June 2017. The qRT-PCR was performed to detected the expression of DOCK9-AS2 in the tissues, and the relationship between DOCK9-AS2 expression and the patients' clinicopathological data was analyzed. The cell transfection technology was used to establish the PTC BCPAP cell downregulating DOCK9-AS2 stably. CCK8 was carried out to investigate the effect of DOCK9-AS2 on the proliferation of the BCPAP cells. The wound-healing assay was used to dectect the effect of DOCK9-AS2 on the migration of the BCPAP cells. Results The expression of DOCK9-AS2 in PTC tissues (0.0097±0.0044) was significantly higher than that of adjacent tissues (0.0026±0.0010) (P<0.05). The expression of DOCK9-AS2 in PTC tissues was related to lymph node metastasis and extra-thyroid invasion (P<0.05). Down-regulation of DOCK9-AS2 could suppress the proliferation and invasion of the BCPAP cells (P<0.05). Conclusion The expression of DOCK9-AS2 in PTC was significantly increased, and downregulating DOCK9-AS2 could inhibit the proliferation and migration of PTC cells.