Fig. 1

Eleven downregulated genes were identified by integrated analysis of CRC miRNA expression datasets. a The flowchart of the integrated analysis and functional validation. In silico bioinformatics data analysis pipeline consists of curation of seven publically available datasets, data preprocessing, metaDE and integrated analysis, TCGA dataset validation, validation for diagnostic/prognostic values, KEGG pathway and target gene validation, and in vitro and in vivo functional validation. b Clustering of the 11 genes in CRC vs. PANT across each independent dataset. Each column represents a sample and each row represents the expression level of a given miRNA. The color scale represents the raw Z score ranging from blue (low expression) to red (high expression). Dendrograms by each heatmap correspond to the hierarchical clustering by expression of the 11 miRNAs. c Expression of the downregulated miRNAs is plotted for tumor and normal tissues (TCGA dataset). Expression values of miRNAs are log₂-transformed