Figure 4. (A) Correlation between the expression status of 95 cancer relevant miRNAs in fresh-frozen and FFPE tissue by QuantimiR™-qPCR, from 3 CRC specimens chosen at random from our archive.

Expression of candidate stromal and epithelial miRNAs in stage II CRC specimens with (n = 25) and without (n = 25) disease recurrence at 5 years. Expression of (B) stromal and (C) epithelial miRNA candidates by Taqman®qPCR from total RNA extracted from FFPE LMD tissue. Stromal miR-21 expression and epithelial miR-106a expression were 1.84-fold and 1.88-fold greater respectively, in tumors which later metastasize compared with those which do not (*p < 0.05; ^NS = not significant). Kaplan-Meier curves of disease-free survival in patients with stage II disease based on significantly differentially expressed stromal and epithelial miRNAs. Patients were stratified into high or low expression groups based around group mean stromal miR-21 expression (D) or group mean epithelial miR-106a expression (E); or expression of stromal miR-21 and epithelial miR-106a in combination (F) Stromal miR-214 and miR-215 and epithelial miR-224 were ubiquitously expressed between groups and were therefore not included in survival analysis (B and C).