Table 3.

Previous studies analyzing the value of miRNAs in UM

Title	Reference	Patient number	Major findings
Circulating immune cell and microRNA in patients with uveal melanoma developing metastatic disease	Achberger et al. [58], 2014	UM patients (n = 6)	plasma levels of miR-20a, miR-125b, miR-146a, miR-155, miR-181a, and miR-233 higher in UM patients compared to healthy controls; upon development of metastasis, all miRs with the exception of miR-181a increased from the time of diagnosis
miRNA profiling in vitreous humor, vitreal exosomes and serum from uveal melanoma patients: pathological and diagnostic implications	Ragusa et al. [55], 2015	UM patients (n = 6)	32 miRNAs found to be differentially expressed in UM patients compared to healthy controls; vitreous humor circulating miRNA profile only partially overlaps that in serum; miR-146a was found to be upregulated in serum of UM patients, a potential circulating marker
Increased levels of miRNA-146a in serum and histologic samples of patients with uveal melanoma	Russo et al. [56], 2016	UM patients (n = 14)	SAM analysis showed 8 serum miRNAs to be differentially expressed between patients and controls; when singularly validated with TaqMan assays, only significant overexpression of miRNA-146a was found
A panel of circulating microRNAs detects uveal melanoma with high precision	Stark et al. [57], 2019	uveal nevus (n = 10); localized UM (n = 50); metastatic UM (n = 5)	6 miRNAs (miR-16, miR-145, miR-146a, miR-204, miR-211, and miR-363-3p) were differentially expressed between uveal nevi compared to localized or metastatic UM; miR-211 had the ability to distinguish metastatic from localized UM; the 6 miRNAs together had 93% sensitivity and 100% specificity in identifying UM

miRNA, microRNA; UM, uveal melanoma.