To validate results from our integrated miRNA-mRNA microarray analysis we performed qRT-PCR. Due to limited sample availability, a representative subset(6out of 27)of up-regulated miRNAs wasassessed. Four of the six miRNAs (67%) were also found significantly upregulated by qRT-PCR: hsa-let-7g (P=0.00196), hsa-miR-15b (P=0.02394), hsa-miR-152 (P=0.02605), and hsa-miR-7 (P=0.04647). Two miRNAs, hsa-miR-301a and hsa-miR-369-3p, did not produce statistically significant differences. Although hsa-miR-301a did not achieve the level of significance desired, we were able to detect an expected 1.57 fold increase in expression in the alcoholic samples as compared to the control group. This particular miRNA assay was negatively affected by the distribution of the control group results, which failed the Kolomogorov-Smirnov test for normality.
