Table 3. Correlations among plaque characteristics and serum levels of inflammatory markers.

	Carotid Plaque Lp-PLA2	Serum Lp-PLA2 mass (ng/mL)	Serum Lp-PLA2 activity
Carotid Plaque
Cpn by qRT-PCR	0.21	−0.28	−0.23
Cpn by IHC	0.39a	−0.24	−0.08
IL-6 expression	0.23	−0.31d	−0.22
IL-6 by IHC	0.11	−0.34d	−0.32d
Macrophages	0.37b	0.06	0.11
CD4+	0.17	−0.04	−0.13
CD8+	−0.02	−0.10	−0.13
B-cell	−0.11	−0.22	−0.32
Lp-PLA2	1	0.14	0.19
Serum
Lp-PLA2 mass (ng/mL)	0.14	1	0.76a
Lp-PLA2 activity	0.19	0.76a	1
CRP	0.18	−0.25	−0.21
IL-6	0.08	−0.27	−0.19
Homocysteine	0.38c	−0.006	0.12

Abbreviations: Lp-PLA₂, Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2; Cpn, C. pneumoniae; qRT-PCR, quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR; IL-6, interleukin-6; IHC, immunohistochemistry; CRP, C-reactive protein.

^ap<0.001.

^bp<0.01.

^cp<0.013.

^dp<0.05.