Fig. 1

Flow chart of the experimental design. One hundred twenty-five patients were enrolled and classified into MAP (n = 45), MSAP (n = 42) and SAP (n = 38) groups. TaqMan low density array (TLDA) technology was initially used in three pooled serum samples from 10 MAP, 10 SAP and 10 healthy controls (HCs). TaqMan low density array (TLDA) technology was initially used in three pooled serum samples from 10 MAP, 10 SAP and 10 healthy controls (HCs). The selected miRNAs were then confirmed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), in the following 2 sets: a the biomarker training set, including 20 MAP, 20 MSAP, 20 SAP patients and 20 HCs (including samples that had undergone TDLA) and (b) the validation set, which comprised serum samples from an additional 25 MAP, 22 MSAP, 18 SAP patients and 32 HCs. MAP, mild acute pancreatitis; MSAP, moderately severe acute pancreatitis; SAP, severe acute pancreatitis