FIG. 6.

Male patients with PAH have elevated levels of circulating HMGB1 and reductive stress. The HMGB1 signal produced by 1 μL of plasma was quantified by using Western blot analysis and compared within each gender between PAH and lung cohorts [(A), three upper panels] and PAH and heart cohorts [(A), three lower panels]. Only male PAH patients had increased HMGB1 plasma levels compared with control cohorts. Data are mean ± SEM. Upper panel—N = 4 for lung male group; N = 6 for PAH male group; N = 10 for lung female group; N = 8 for PAH female group; lower panel—N = 7 for all groups. *p < 0.05 versus lung or heart cohort. p Value calculated by using unpaired t-test. ORP (B) and Cap (C) were measured in the plasma samples of control cohorts and patients with PAH. Patients with non-PAH lung diseases showed evidence of strong oxidative stress, whereas patients with non-PAH heart diseases had reductive changes. Females with PAH had more oxidized redox parameters compared with the heart cohort, whereas male patients with PAH possessed equal (ORP) or even more reduced (Cap) plasma redox changes. Data are mean ± SEM, (B, C) N = 5 for lung; N = 8 for heart; N = 14 for PAH in male groups; N = 16 for lung; N = 9 for heart; N = 51 for PAH in female groups. *p < 0.05 versus lung cohort, ^†p < 0.05 versus heart cohort. p Value calculated by using one-way ANOVA (Bonferroni's multiple-comparison test).