Table 4.

Expression levels of miR-146b, miR-221, miR-222, and miR-135b in papillary thyroid carcinomas with different clinicopathologic features

Clinicopathologic feature	N	miR-146b (mean ΔCt)	P	miR-221 (mean ΔCt)	P	miR-222 (mean ΔCt)	P	miR-135b (mean ΔCt)	P
Age (years)
<45	51	0.88 (0.43–1.95)	0.114	0.06 (0.03–0.10)	0.612	0.06 (0.03–0.09)	0.048*	0.09 (0.07–0.17)	0.761
≥45	40	1.22 (0.79–1.96)		0.06 (0.04–0.09)		0.07 (0.04–0.12)		0.10 (0.06–0.14)
Sex
Male	30	1.21 (0.78–2.11)	0.173	0.07 (0.04–0.13)	0.053	0.09 (0.06–0.13)	0.002*	0.10 (0.07–0.17)	0.455
Female	61	1.04 (0.46–1.88)		0.05 (0.03–0.09)		0.05 (0.03–0.08)		0.09 (0.06–0.14)
TNM staging (AJCC)
I, II	56	0.83 (0.44–1.67)	0.004*	0.05 (0.03–0.08)	0.075	0.05 (0.03–0.08)	0.0001*	0.09 (0.06–0.14)	0.230
III, IV	35	1.55 (0.90–2.86)		0.06 (0.04–0.15)		0.10 (0.05–0.15)		0.10 (0.07–0.20)
Tumor size (cm)
<3	56	0.91 (0.48–1.67)	0.018*	0.05 (0.04–0.09)	0.108	0.05 (0.03–0.08)	0.008*	0.08 (0.06–0.13)	0.024*
≥3	35	1.31 (0.75–2.96)		0.08 (0.04–0.12)		0.07 (0.06–0.16)		0.09 (0.07–0.21)
Microcarcinoma
Yes	14	1.08 (0.54–1.67)	0.652	0.06 (0.04–0.10)	0.746	0.05 (0.03–0.08)	0.187	0.10 (0.07–0.13)	0.403
No	77	1.08 (0.62–1.96)		0.06 (0.03–0.10)		0.09 (0.04–0.11)		0.13 (0.06–0.15)
Multicentricity
Yes	14	0.85 (0.42–2.60)	0.648	0.05 (0.02–0.11)	0.478	0.07 (0.03–0.12)	0.826	0.07 (0.06–0.10)	0.096
No	77	1.16 (0.63–1.95)		0.06 (0.04–0.10)		0.07 (0.04–0.10)		0.10 (0.07–0.15)
Lymph node metastasis
Yes	52	1.03 (0.68–1.95)	0.639	0.05 (0.03–0.09)	0.267	0.07 (0.03–0.11)	0.968	0.09 (0.06–0.13)	0.109
No	39	1.28 (0.27–1.95)		0.07 (0.04–0.11)		0.07 (0.04–0.10)		0.11 (0.07–0.23)

Notes: All data were calculated using the Mann-Whitney U test The data are shown as median (interquartile range). ΔCt = Ct (miRNA) − Ct (U6).

^*Statistically significant (P < 0.05).

Abbreviations: AJCC, American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging; PTC, papillary thyroid carcinoma; TNM, tumor-node metastasis.