Figure 5.

Expression analysis of dupα7 and α7 subunit genes in PBMCs from patients with sepsis. Absolute expression values for each gene transcript (number of mRNA copies) in PBMCs from 33 patients with sepsis and 33 healthy individuals (Controls) were determined by qPCR on the basis of a standard six-point curve as described under “Experimental procedures.” Each value, obtained in triplicate, represents an average of three separate determinations. A, expression of dupα7 mRNA in the control group and in patients distributed into tertiles (11 patients/tertile) according to their absolute α7 mRNA expression level (1st tertile, high; 2nd tertile, medium; 3rd tertile, low levels). B, α7/dupα7 ratio calculated on the basis of the number of copies of both transcripts. Data are represented as box-and-whisker plots; the line within each box shows the median expression of dupα7 or α7/dupα7 ratio, upper and lower edges of the box represent the 75th and 25th percentiles, respectively, and the ends of the whisker the maximum and minimum value of the series. The ANOVA test followed by the Bonferroni post hoc test (A) or the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by the Dunn post hoc test (B) was used for data analysis. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; and ***, p < 0.001 after comparing the indicated boxes. The shaded triangles at the bottom panel reflect the existence of significant correlations between dupα7 mRNA levels or α7/dupα7 ratio and the inflammatory state or disease severity of the patients.