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.
p<0.001.
p<0.01.
p<0.013.
p<0.05.