Elevated Th17 cell proportion, related cytokines and mRNA expression level in patients with hypertension-mediated organ damage: a case control study

Table 3 Alteration of Th17 cell frequency, cytokine concentration and mRNA expression level in each group

	Control group (n = 63)	non-HMOD group (n = 86)	HMOD group (n = 92)
Th17 cell frequency (mean ± SD, %)	0.61 ± 0.46	1.35 ± 0.29*	2.94 ± 1.08**
Cytokine concentration (mean ± SD, ng/l)
IL-17	14.05 ± 6.32	21.17 ± 9.07*	34.52 ± 19.01**
IL-23	140.10 ± 56.59	275.65 ± 283.50*	521.03 ± 169.70**
mRNA expression level (mean ± SD, arbitrary units)
RORγt	0.05 ± 0.06	0.54 ± 0.11*	1.06 ± 0.57**
STAT3	1.15 ± 0.35	1.62 ± 0.23*	2.90 ± 1.27**
IL-17	5.06 ± 1.41	8.43 ± 0.75*	11.23 ± 4.24**

Th17 cell frequency, cytokine concentration and mRNA expression level in 3 groups were compared by one-way analysis of variance. Bonferroni correction was used for multiple comparisons.
HMOD hypertension-mediated organ damage, SD standard deviation, RORɣt retinoic acid-related orphan receptor γt, STAT 3 signal transducer and activator of transcription-3, IL interleukin
*P < 0.005 when comparing with control group. **P < 0.005 when comparing with non-HMOD group

ISSN: 1471-2261