Prognostic Utility of Circulating Growth Factors in Aortic Valve Stenosis: A Pilot Study

Figures

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  Figure 1. Plasma GDF-15 levels: (A) comparison of GDF-15 concentrations in control subjects and aortic valve stenosis (AS) patients; (B) comparison of GDF-15 concentrations in control subjects and AS patients with 3 different severity degrees; (C) correlation between plasma GDF-15 levels and the severity of AS (the gray line indicates a positive relationship). MW—Mann–Whitney U test; KW—Kruskal–Wallis test; rP—Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

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  Figure 2. Plasma VEGF-A level: (A) comparison of VEGF-A concentrations in control subjects and aortic valve stenosis (AS) patients; (B) comparison of VEGF-A concentrations in control subjects and AS patients with 3 different severity degrees; (C) correlation between plasma VEGF-A levels and the severity of AS (the gray line indicates a positive relationship). MW—Mann–Whitney U test; F—Fisher’s exact test (small gray numbers show counts of cases with VEGF-A concentration ≤ 15 and >15 pg/mL); rP—Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

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  Figure 3. Plasma FGF-2 level: (A) comparison of FGF-2 concentrations in control subjects and aortic valve stenosis (AS) patients; (B) comparison of FGF-2 concentrations in control subjects and AS patients with 3 different severity degrees; (C) correlation between plasma PGF-2 levels and the severity of AS (the gray line indicates a positive relationship). MW—Mann–Whitney U test; rP—Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

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  Figure 4. Plasma FGF-21 level: (A) comparison of FGF-21 concentrations in control subjects and aortic valve stenosis (AS) patients; (B) comparison of FGF-2 concentrations in control subjects and AS patients with 3 different severity degrees; (C) correlation between plasma PGF-21 levels and the severity of AS (the gray line indicates a positive relationship). MW—Mann–Whitney U test; rP—Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

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  Figure 5. Plasma Ang-2 level: (A) comparison of Ang-2 concentrations in control subjects and aortic valve stenosis (AS) patients; (B) comparison of Ang-2 concentrations in control subjects and AS patients with 3 different severity degrees; (C) correlation between plasma Ang-2 levels and the severity of AS (the gray line indicates a positive relationship). rP—Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

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  Figure 6. Correlation matrix representing the strength of the association between the levels of the growth factors and the severity (no, mild, moderate, severe) of AS (see upper first row or left first column), as well as covariances of the factors studied. The numbers in cells (squares) show the value of the Pearson’s correlation coefficient (rP); the table below represents the corresponding p-values.

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  Figure 7. Correlation between FGF-2 and VEGF-A levels in the aortic valve stenosis patients. Asterisks show the level of statistical significance.

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  Figure 8. Correlation between GDF-15 and Ang-2 levels in the aortic valve stenosis patients. Asterisks show the level of statistical significance.

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  Figure 9. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves for growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15), angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) and fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) as diagnostic markers of aortic valve stenosis in the control subjects vs. all study patients. AUC—the area under the curve.

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  Figure 10. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves for growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) as a diagnostic marker of aortic valve stenosis in the control group vs. all stenosis groups. AUC—the area under the curve.