Table 2.
Baseline values of inflammatory markers; heart transplant recipients and healthy controls
| Inflammatory biomarkers† | HTx (n=14) |
Healthy controls (n=5) |
P value |
| General inflammation | |||
| C reactive protein‡ | 4.0 (0.5, 6.9) |
1.7 (0.7, 4.7) |
0.687 |
| sTNFr1 | 3.07 (2.68, 3.31) |
2.18 (1.77, 2.62) |
0.026* |
| Vascular inflammation | |||
| von Willebrand factor§ | 187 (92, 288) |
111 (35, 146) |
0.156 |
| VCAM | 489 (402, 616) |
408 (390, 430) |
0.115 |
| Blood platelets | |||
| Platelet-derived growth factor | 1.97 (1.40, 2.57) |
2.87 (1.27, 4.16) |
0.559 |
| sCD40L | 0.98 (0.66, 1.49) |
1.59 (1.17, 1.88) |
0.070 |
| DKK-1 | 2.08 (1.03, 4.28) |
1.28 (0.58, 3.71) |
0.440 |
| Angiogenesis | |||
| Vascular endothelial growth factor-1 | 0.19 (0.14, 0.28) |
0.15 (0.14, 0.20) |
0.298 |
| Angiopoietin-2 | 1.30 (1.08, 2.11) |
1.47 (1.11, 1.98) |
0.823 |
| Tie-2 | 15.9 (13.0, 17.7) |
15.8 (13.4, 15.9) |
0.817 |
| Endostatin | 162 (135, 200) |
138 (114, 145) |
0.165 |
| Cardiokine/myokine | |||
| GDF-15 | 1.14 (0.61, 1.41) |
0.36 (0.32, 0.83) |
0.019* |
| ST2 | 17.5 (15.2, 26.9) |
22.4 (17.0, 33.1) |
0.247 |
| SPARC | 306 (127, 482) |
212 (98, 909) |
0.823 |
*P value ≤0.05 between groups.
†All variables are presented as median with (1st quartile, 3rd quartile) and measured in ng/mL serum if not otherwise stated. ‡Measured as μg/mL.
§Measured as per cent of pool.
DKK-1, Dickkopf-related protein 1; GDF-15, growth differentiation factor-15; HTx, heart transplant recipients; sCD40L, soluble CD40 ligand; SPARC, secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine; ST2, interleukin 1 receptor-like 1; sTNFr1, soluble tumour necrosis factor receptor 1; Tie-2, tyrosine kinase with immunoglobulin-like and EGF-like domains 2; VCAM, vascular cell adhesion molecule.