Levels and values of circulating endothelial progenitor cells, soluble angiogenic factors, and mononuclear cell apoptosis in liver cirrhosis patients

Table 1 The baseline Characteristics of Study Patients and Normal Controls

Variables	Study patients (n = 78)	Normal control (n = 25)	p value*
Age (yrs)	54.8 ± 13.7	54.1 ± 10.5	0.927
Male gender	71.8 % (56)	68.0 % (17)	0.716
EPC surface markers†
CD31/CD34 (%)‡	1.01 ± 0.57	1.37 ± 0.49	0.005
KDR/CD34 (%)‡	1.08 ± 0.63	1.37 ± 0.65	0.035
CXCR4/CD34 (%)‡	1.13 ± 0.66	1.54 ± 0.64	0.001
WBC count (x 10³/dl)	8.5 ± 11.9	6.0 ± 1.5	0.575
Hemoglobin (g/dl)	10.9 ± 2.4	14.9 ± 1.3	<0.0001
Platelet count (x 10⁴/dl)	10.8 ± 6.3	22.4 ± 5.5	<0.0001
Creatinine (mg/dl)	1.00 ± 0.60	0.91 ± 0.20	0.806
Albumin (g/dl)	3.0 ± 0.6	4.5 ± 0.3	<0.0001
AST (U/L)	97.8 ± 107.1	24.6 ± 6.4	<0.0001
ALT (U/L)	68.1 ± 123.0	29.3 ± 17.4	0.005
VEGF (pg/ml)	55.4 ± 58.0	49.9 ± 27.8	0.286
SDF-1α (pg/ml)	2256.3 ± 705.8	1502.4 ± 370.7	<0.0001
Early apoptosis (%)	18.01 ± 11.66	6.16 ± 2.83	<0.0001
Late apoptosis (%)	3.28 ± 3.86	1.19 ± 0.99	0.0008

Data expressed as mean ± SD or % (No).
ALT = alanine aminotransferase; AST = aspartate aminotransferase; EPC = endothelial progenitor cell; SDF = stromal cell-derived factor; VEGF = vascular endothelial cell growth factor; WBC = white blood cell.
* by Wilcoxon rank sum test.
† indicates EPC surface markers with double stains.
‡ The expected 0.7 % was based on our previous study [18] on EPC surface markers (CD31/CD34). The expected difference (i.e., 0.7 %) has not been reached for CD31/CD34 (or KDR/CD34, CXCR4/CD34) in Table 1.

ISSN: 1423-0127