Figure 6
Downregulated expression and enrichment of cancer genes among highly targeted genes. (a) In a comparison of highly targeted genes (n > 20) versus less targeted genes (1 ≤ n ≤ 5) in normal tissue samples [46], 121 out of 158 samples exhibited decreased expression among highly targeted genes (P = 1 × 10-11). (b) Out of 58 NCI60 cancer cell line samples, 58 exhibited decreased expression among highly targeted genes (P = 7 × 10-18). (c) Highly targeted genes are enriched for cancer genes, with cancer genes targeted by >30 miRNAs having the most enrichment. In (c,d), asterisks denote P < 0.01 and crosses denote P < 0.05.(d) This enrichment for cancer genes remains after removing transcriptional regulators, which are prevalent among cancer genes and, as shown earlier, overrepresented among highly targeted genes.