Figure 1

MiRNA expression in primary canine MCTs is associated with biological behavior. Primary canine MCTs were obtained from dogs diagnosed with benign tumors (n = 12) or biologically high grade metastatic tumors (n = 12). Real-time PCR profiling was performed using Applied Biosystems Human TaqMan Low Density miRNA Arrays to assess mature miRNA expression in primary tumors. Unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis separated samples into two groups based on biological behavior and demonstrate unique miRNA expression profiles associated with biologically low-grade (L) tumors or high-grade (H) tumors (P < 0.05). (*) indicates primary tumor sample from a dog with a benign mast cell tumor that clustered with the biologically high grade MCT group.