miRNA expression profiling of primary melanoma tumors (cohort I)

We performed global microRNA expression profiling of a cohort of primary melanoma patient samples linked to a well-annotated clinical database. The goal of this study was to identify microRNA that are associated to or correlated with various clinical parameters and patient outcomes. Candidate microRNA were identified for building prognostic models and functional testing. 92 primary melanoma (well-annotated with long clinical follow-up) and 9 congenital nevi samples were analyzed to Exiqon miRCURY two color arrays. The reference sample used was an equal combination of all samples analyzed. By this design, ratio data of test sample/reference is mean-centered data.