“…miR-221, miR-222, miR-659, miR-4470, miR-4669, miR-5703 and RNU6B (internal control)-specific cDNA synthesis was performed using 10 ng of total RNA and TaqMan miRNA primers (Applied Biosystems; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Waltham, MA, USA). RT-qPCR analyses were performed using the following TaqMan miRNA assays: miR-221-3p (ID000524), miR-222-3p (ID002276), miR-659 (ID001514), miR-4470 (ID464583_mat), miR-4669 (ID464125_mat), miR5703 (ID472811_mat) and RNU6B (ID001093) with specific primers (Applied Biosystems; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) as previously described (14). In brief, cDNA was synthesized from total RNA (10 ng) in a 7.5-µl reaction volume (RT primer 1.5 µl, total RNA lysate 2.5 µl, RT mix 3.5 µl) using the TaqMan ® MicroRNA Reverse Transcription kit.…”