Figure 2. Assessment of Plg levels and PAI-1 in serum of patients with sepsis and septic shock.

Blood samples of patients with sepsis were centrifuged and serum levels of Plg, IL-6, and PAI-1 were measured by ELISA. (A and F) The association between these analytes was evaluated by correlation (Pearson’s coefficient, R) and regression analyses (R²). (B, C, G, and H) Plg and PAI-1 levels in patients with sepsis (n = 12) and septic shock (n = 10) were evaluated on day 1 (B and G) and day 3 (C and H) by unpaired 2-tailed Student’s t tests. (D and E) Sequential behavior of Plg levels on days 1 and 3 was evaluated in patients with sepsis (D) and patients with septic shock (E) by paired 2-tailed Student’s t test. *P < 0.05. Outliers were removed from the graphs when detected. Of note, Plg levels in patients with sepsis were measured in serum. Plg levels in both plasma and serum are similar, with serum displaying 16% less Plg than plasma, as previously described (75). Nonetheless, we found consistently high levels of Plg in serum samples from patients with sepsis in our study.