title: Mirna expression profiles identify drivers in colorectal and pancreatic cancers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Altered expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) hallmarks many cancer types. The study of the associations of miRNA expression profile and cancer phenotype could help identify the links between deregulation of miRNA expression and oncogenic pathways.
  
  
  METHODS
  Expression profiling of 866 human miRNAs in 19 colorectal and 17 pancreatic cancers and in matched adjacent normal tissues was investigated. Classical paired t-test and random forest analyses were applied to identify miRNAs associated with tissue-specific tumors. Network analysis based on a computational approach to mine associations between cancer types and miRNAs was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The merge between the two statistical methods used to intersect the miRNAs differentially expressed in colon and pancreatic cancers allowed the identification of cancer-specific miRNA alterations. By miRNA-network analysis, tissue-specific patterns of miRNA deregulation were traced: the driving miRNAs were miR-195, miR-1280, miR-140-3p and miR-1246 in colorectal tumors, and miR-103, miR-23a and miR-15b in pancreatic cancers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MiRNA expression profiles may identify cancer-specific signatures and potentially useful biomarkers for the diagnosis of tissue specific cancers. miRNA-network analysis help identify altered miRNA regulatory networks that could play a role in tumor pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department and Laboratory of Gastroenterology, IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, Research Hospital, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. a.piepoli@operapadrepio.it
authors.forename: Ada
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piepoli
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tavano
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Copetti
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mazza
authors.forename: Orazio
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Palumbo
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Panza
authors.forename: Francesco Fabio
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: di Mola
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pazienza
authors.forename: Gianluigi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mazzoccoli
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Biscaglia
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gentile
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mastrodonato
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carella
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: di Sebastiano
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andriulli
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs