PROGTar: A database of Prognostically Inversely Correlated miRNAs and Genes (PICs) in multiple cancers

ABSTRACT PROGTar is a database of Prognostically Inversely Correlated miRNA-mRNA pairs (PIC’s) in 23 cancer types. Partner miRNA and mRNA in a PIC show inverse correlation of expression and opposite hazards. We analyzed miRNA and mRNA expression data downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) in a 3 step approach to identify PICs in different cancer types. In first step we performed correlation analysis between miRNAs and mRNAs for each cancer type. This was followed by performing hazard analysis separately for miRNAs and mRNAs using expression data and survival related clinical variables. In the third step we merged the correlation and hazard result sets. Resultant miRNA and mRNA pairs were filtered to retain only pairs that had negative correlation between miRNA and mRNA expression and opposite hazards for miRNA and mRNA, at a statistically significant level (p Results from our pan cancer analysis are available on the web based application PROGTar. Users can search for miRNA/mRNA of interest on the database to find inversely correlated partners. Users can also create prognostic plots for the PICs of interest. Prognostic plots created with PROGTar show arms for high and low expression of target molecule and its corresponding partner in the PIC, bifurcated at median of expression. The plots also show arms for a combined prognostic signature calculated using expression levels of both partners in the PIC. The application is available freely for non-commercial use at www.xvm145.jefferson.edu/progtarhttps://jdc.jefferson.edu/pacbposters/1000/thumbnail.jp