However, miR-148a expression was inversely correlated with the expression of DNMT1 (ρ = − 0.31, P = 0.04), whereas miR-148b expression showed negative correlation with the expression of DNMT3A (ρ = − 0.38, P = 0.02) and DNMT3B (ρ = − 0.33, P = 0.03) in tumor tissues from 42 NSCLC patients (Fig. 2A). The gene discussed is DNMT3B; the disease is neoplasm.