Fig. 1

Sequencing results showed a relation of has-miR-1248 with CRC lymph node metastasis. MiRNA sequencing was performed in three groups, i.e., high lymph node metastatic carcinoma tissue group (M_High), low lymph node metastatic carcinoma tissue group (M_Low), and adjacent normal colorectal tissue group (Normal). The expression (z score) is shown in the heatmap (Fig. 1A). There are 95 miRNAs down-regulated in carcinoma tissue (M_Low and M_high groups) when compared with the adjacent normal tissue (NC group), and they were further down-regulated in M_High groups when compared with M_Low groups (Fig. 1B). According to the Log2 Fold change in the M_High vs. M_Low, the top 3 differentially expressed miRNAs were hsa-miR-635, hsa-miR-1248, and hsa-miR-668-3p (Fig. 1C). Consequently, we screened out hsa-miR-635, hsa-miR-1248, and hsa-miR-668-3p as the potential miRNAs affecting CRC lymph node metastasis