Figure 3. Difference in hsa-miR-200b-3p and -200c-3p levels according to tissue type.

(A) Upper-GI tract samples originating from esophagus and stomach, including 67 HCMV-infected and 56 non-infected FFPE tissues. The percentage of samples with undetectable level of hsa-miR- 200b-3p/GAPDH (21.7 compared with 0.0%) was significantly higher in HCMV-infected than non-infected upper-GI tract tissues (P<0.001). However, the percentage of undetectable 200c-3p/GAPDH (4.3 compared with 0.0%) was similar between the two groups (P=0.121). (B) Lower-GI tract samples from duodenum, cecum, terminal ileum, colon, and rectum, including 168 HCMV-infected and 79 normal FFPE tissues. The percentage of samples with undetectable level of hsa-miR-200b-3p/GAPDH (23.0 compared with 0.0%) was significantly higher in HCMV-infected than non-infected lower-GI-tract tissues (P<0.001). For 200c-3p, values normalized to GAPDH had a significantly high undetectable percentage (12.1 compared with 0.0%, P<0.001). (C) Lung samples, including 5 HCMV-infected and 19 normal FFPE tissues. In lung, the 200b-3p/GAPDH and 200c-3p/GAPDH levels did not show significant difference between two groups (P=0.297 and 0.120, respectively). *P<0.001. P-values for GI tract and lung samples were obtained through independent t test and Mann–Whitney U test, respectively. In (A,B), height of boxes and upper/lower lines indicate mean and S.D. In (C), bars represent median and 25 or 75 percentile values. Each dot corresponds to the miRNA/GAPDH levels expressed as log₁₀ copies/μl of input nucleic acid in all figures.