Fig. 2

Serum miR-99a-5p expression is significantly upregulated in EOC patients. a Relative miR-99a-5p expression levels in sera from healthy volunteers (n = 20), patients with benign tumors (n = 26), and patients with EOC (n = 62) are shown (left). Relative serum miR-99a-5p expression levels among four different histological types (middle) and between EOC patients with early (I + II; n = 31) and late (III + IV) stage (n = 31; right) diseases are shown. The average miR-99a-5p expression levels of healthy volunteers (n = 20) were set to 1.0. The box-and-whisker plots indicate the median, interquartile range, and range. **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001. n.s., not significant. b Relative miR-99a-5p expression levels in matched serum samples from EOC patients before and after primary debulking surgery (PDS). Individual changes in serum expression levels of miR-99a-5p in EOC patients (n = 26) before (Pre) and after (Post) surgical removal of tumors are shown. The average miR-99a-5p expression levels of healthy volunteers (n = 20) was set to 1.0. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001. c Correlation analysis between expression levels of CA125 and miR-99a-5p. Spearman’s correlation analysis was performed to evaluate whether there was any association between the sera expression levels of miR-99a-5p and CA125