Fig. 5

Function and pathway analyses for the experimentally supported miRNA-gene interactions in the leukocytes from the PQDS and PDHS populations. a The network detailing the PQDS-specific and PDHS-specific miRNA-gene interactions in leukocytes. The target genes having similar functions were specially marked and grouped together. The expression levels of miRNAs and genes were visually presented in the form of colorful nodes showing the color change (green to red) in brightness and chromaticity. b The relationship network of the enriched pathways of genes belonging to the PQDS-specific miRNA-gene interaction pairs. The edge between two nodes indicate there are several common genes implicated in the nodes-labeled pathways, thus the edge thickness depends on the number of the existed common genes. The blue arrows denoted the immune pathways containing the validated targets of the has-miR-122-5p. c Clustering analyses of the expression profiles of the miRNAs belonging to the experimentally supported miRNA-gene interaction pairs in different populations. Two heatmaps were generated to profile the miRNAs expression in the leukocytes and serums of individuals from different populations. Especially, if there are additional experimental evidences supporting that a listed miRNA can be contained and carried in the plasma exosomes, it was thus specially marked with an orange circle. Control healthy individuals, PQDS chronic atrophic gastritis patients with Pi-qi-deficiency syndrome, PDHS chronic atrophic gastritis patients with Pi-wei damp-heat syndrome