Fig. 4.

CES1 rs115629050 variant is associated with reduced enzymatic activity and increased apoptosis in unstimulated and METH-exposed PMVECs. A: CES1 activity assay of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors (wild type) and METH-PAH patients carrying rs115629050. *P < 0.05, unpaired t-test. B: allelic discrimination assay for rs115629050 in gDNA samples extracted from lung tissue paraffin blocks (see methods). C: caspase 3/7 activity assay of PMVECs transfected with either GFP, wild-type (CES1), or rs115629050 mutant (mutant CES1) plasmids. **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 vs. all other groups; ordinary 1-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple-comparison test.