Relationship of MMP-14 and TIMP-3 Expression with Macrophage Activation and Human Atherosclerotic Plaque Vulnerability

Table 5

Correlations of immunostains with histological parameters for plaque vulnerability in human carotid plaques.

Plaque characteristic	% of MMP-14^hi FCMs			% of TIMP-3^hi FCMs
		rho	value		rho	value
Macrophage density	79	0.453	<0.001	68	−0.316	0.009
SMC density	76	−0.466	<0.001	66	0.283	0.021
% of MMP-14^hi FCMs	x	x	x	71	−0.366	0.002
% of COX-2^+ FCMs	32	0.726	<0.001	28	−0.185	0.345
% of CD206^+ FCMs	27	−0.013	0.948	27	0.606	0.001

Correlations are shown between the percentage of CD68 positive foam-cell macrophages (FCMs) also positive for MMP-14 and TIMP-3 with quantitative histological markers and percentage of CD68 positive for COX-2 and CD206 using Spearman correlation tests. Negative correlations are shown in italics.