Table 7. RANTES expression levels (median [25^th percentile–75^th percentile] in ng/µg in relation to histological plaque composition of atherosclerotic carotid plaques (Athero-Express biobank study).

	Macrophage infiltration	Smooth muscle cell infiltration	Calcification	Collagen content	Lipid core size*	Plaque haemorrhage**
No	41.4 [29.6–61.5]	55.4 [27.3–84.0]	48.8 [32.9–79.6]	-	39.1 [24.3–65.4]	42.7 [27.5–71.2]
Minor	44.9 [27.9–71.7]	47.9 [32.2–80.0]	48.9 [29.0–78.4]	52.4 [31.6–89.0]	47.6 [30.7–82.4]	46.4 [30.0–76.6]
Moderate	44.7 [29.1–75.3]	44.9 [29.5–70.4]	48.4 [30.6–74.1]	44.9 [29.5–72.3]	46.9 [30.6–70.9]
Heavy	58.4 [33.1–83.2]	44.5 [25.8–84.4]	38.0 [25.5–67.7]	43.7 [27.3–74.7]
Correlation coefficient	0.08	−0.18	−0.11	−0.05	0.07	−0.96
P	0.054	0.66	0.009	0.24	0.09	0.34

Correlations of the histological plaque characteristics with continuous RANTES levels were analysed by Spearman's bivariate correlation test.

*Lipid core size was expressed as no, <40% and >40% of the total plaque area.

**Presence of plaque haemorrhage was scored as present or absent and statistically analysed by the Mann Whitney-U test.