Table 4.

The expression difference of sputum miRNAs between patients with either malignant or benign SPNs, the corresponding sensitivity and specificity in distingushing malignant from benign SPNs

miRNAs	Mean (SEM) of miRNA level * in patients with malignant SPNs	Mean (SEM) of miRNA level * in patients with benign SPNs	P-value	AUC (95% CI)	Sensitivity	Specificity
miR-205	85.66 (19.16)	72.72 (64.82)	0.0267	0.635 (0.552 to 0.719)	59.74	53.93
miR-708	1.01 (0.17)	4.86 (1.37)	0.0048	0.656 (0.561 to 0.750)	64.71	62.50
miR-375	698.81 (185.83)	81.26 (23.80)	0.0026	0.666 (0.594 to 0.756)	66.23	62.22
miR-200b	879.82 (228.67)	49.10 (3.11)	0.0013	0.679 (0.589 to 0.768)	65.22	61.19
miR-182	43.95 (12.76)	2.16 (0.31)	0.0018	0.684 (0.611 to 0.778)	64.94	59.76
miR-155	23.76(4.59)	4.54 (0.59)	< 0.0001	0.697 (0.616 to 0.779)	62.67	62.96
miR-372	136.49 (32.55)	17.58 (3.56)	0.0006	0.707 (0.628 to 0.786)	63.64	60.98
miR-143	9.46 (1.87)	1.86 (0.27)	0.0002	0.723 (0.644 to 0.803)	63.38	61.73
miR-486-5p	29.46 (4.18)	241.62 (49.80)	0.0001	0.748 (0.674 to 0.821)	74.03	66.67
miR-126	3.83 (1.38)	78.88 (23.62)	0.0030	0.777 (0.704 to 0.851)	77.63	75.00
miR-31	2.73 (0.45)	0.47 (0.07)	< 0.0001	0.789 (0.719 to 0.849)	60.23	82.67
miR-21	53.60 (6.43)	7.56 (1.39)	< 0.0001	0.819 (0.753 to 0.874)	78.16	71.08
miR-210	67.28 (6.07)	5.79 (0.42)	< 0.0001	0.853 (0.792 to 0.901)	75.27	85.88
Combined three miRNAs†			< 0.0001	0.919 (0.864 to 0.956)	82.93	87.84

Abbreviations: SEM, the standard error of the mean; AUC, the area under receiver operating characteristic curve; CI, confidence interval.

^*The relative expression of each miRNA was calculated by using 2−ΔΔ threshold cycle (Ct), in which, ΔCT were CT values normalized to miR-16 control gene.

^†The three miRNAs: miRs-21, 31, and 210.