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. 2020 May 27;52(5):843–853. doi: 10.1038/s12276-020-0443-8

Fig. 1. Expression of angiogenic factors in the synovial fluids (SF) and their association with local and systemic inflammatory responses in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

Fig. 1

a Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), placenta growth factor (PlGF), soluble Flt-1 (sFlt-1), and interleukin (IL)-6 concentrations in the SF of RA patients (n = 54) and osteoarthritis (OA) controls (n = 30). Bars indicate the mean and SD. b Correlations of VEGF, PlGF, sFlt-1, and IL-6 in the SF with synovitis severity on ultrasonography (US), hemoglobin, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell (WBC) count, and % neutrophils in the SF of RA patients. A correlation matrix heatmap is presented in the upper panel, and correlation plots are shown in the lower panel. GSUS: gray-scale US; PDUS: power-Doppler US. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 by Student’s unpaired t test or Pearson’s correlation test.