microRNA expression data from Ewing's sarcoma tumor samples. Homo sapiens

Ewing sarcoma a rare pediatric tumor characterized by EWSR1-ETS fusions. We performed expression profiling of both miRNA and mRNA from the same Ewing's sarcoma tumors. We propose a novel statistical measure of non-linear dependence between miRNA and mRNA expression, In order to infer miRNA-target interactions. This approach, That we name antagonism pattern detection, Is based on the statistical recognition of a triangular-shaped pattern in miRNA-target expression profiles. This pattern is observed in miRNA-target expression measurements since their simultaneously elevated expression is statistically under-represented in the case of miRNA silencing effect. The proposed method enables miRNA target prediction to strongly rely on cellular context and physiological conditions reflected by expression data. Overall design: Total RNAs issued of 39 Ewing tumors were used for mRNA and miRNA microarray analyses. The microRNA data were collected using the Illumina human-6 V1 BeadChip.