To check the effects of leptin and insulin exposure on the expression levels of a wide cross-section of miRNAs, we profiled miRNA levels in the CRC-derived cell lines HCT-116, HT-29 and DLD-1 that had been treated with leptin or insulin (at 200 ng/ml) for 24 h, using the Nanostring nCounter probe array platform (clustered heat map for leptin-induced changes, Additional file 2: Figure S1; all expression data, Additional file 3: Table S2). Here, INS is linked to colorectal carcinoma.