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Fig. 3 | Arthritis Research & Therapy

Fig. 3

From: Tie2 as a novel key factor of microangiopathy in systemic sclerosis

Fig. 3

Serum levels of Ang/Tie2 in SSc patients and controls and effects of VEGF on human dermal microvascular endothelial cells. a As assessed by ELISA, serum levels of Ang-2 were significantly increased in patients with pre-SSc as well as in established disease irrespective of the disease subset (lc = limited cutaneous vs. dc = diffuse cutaneous) compared with healthy controls. In contrast, the Ang-1 levels were remarkably decreased in all different SSc subsets compared with healthy controls. Of note, all SSc patients irrespective of cutaneous subtype or disease stage showed elevated serum concentrations of sTie2 compared with healthy controls. b. Treatment of dermal HMVECs with recombined human VEGF led to a dose-dependent reduction of Tie2+ cells with concomitant increase of sTie2 in the supernatants thereby supporting the shedding hypothesis. Ang Angiopoietin, SSc systemic sclerosis, sTie2 soluble Tie2, VEGF vascular endothelial growth factor

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