Fig 1. The effects of hydroxychloroquine on sFlt-1 gene expression and its secretion from cytotrophoblasts and explants of preeclamptic placentas.

Treating cytotrophoblasts with hydroxychloroquine caused a significant reduction in both sFlt-1 variant isoforms sFlt-1 i13 (a) and sFlt-1 e15a (b) with a 20μM dose of hydroxychloroquine. This reduction translates into a significant decrease of sFlt-1 secretion from cytotrophoblasts (c) across all doses of the drug. Although not statistically significant, on average placental explants tended produce less sFlt-1 under treatment. Data are means ± SEM of minimum three independent experiments. * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001, **** p<0.0001 (Friedman test).