miRNA profiles in invasive front of pT1 colorectal cancer

The goal of the study was to identify miRNAs differentially expressed in the invasive front of early and more advanced colorectal cancers, and to determine wheter miRNA profiles could differentiate between colorectal cancers with and without early metasttic progression. miRNA array data was used for analyses of associations beteen metastatic status and for associations to histopathological risk factors for metastatic progression. We used RNA extracted from formalin fixed paraffin embedded colorectal adenocarcinoma tissue from invasive front of 56 matched pT1 and 20 matched pT3 colorectal cancers. Additionally three random normal colorectal mucosa samples and three stroma samples were analyzed.