Fig. 3

Differential expression of proteins in response to CC in VSMCs (n = 4 donors) using Olink proteomics panels. Volcano plot displaying proteins differentially expressed between control and CC treated in cell culture supernatant using Inflammation panel (A) and in the lysate using CVD III (B) and Cardiometabolic (C) panels. Colors represent FDR levels (red, FDR ≤ 1%; green, FDR ≤ 5%; blue, FDR ≤ 10%; black, FDR > 10%). The labeled dots represent proteins that were differentially expressed in response to CC treatment versus control VSMCs (FDR ≤ 10%). Levels of IL6 (D), IL8 (E) and MCP-1 (F) were measured using ELISA. Data are representative of experiments from VSMCs of 4 donors and displayed as mean ± SD. * p < 0.05. G The protein–protein interaction network as analyzed by String software. The red, dark green, pink, and violet nodes represents proteins involved in T cell, monocyte, neutrophil and macrophage chemotaxis, respectively. The green, yellow, blue, purple, grey and brown nodes represents proteins involved in regulation of leukocyte migration, low-density lipoprotein particle receptor activity, neutrophil activation, cytokine signaling in immune system, external side of plasma membrane, PI3K–AkT signaling pathway. The colored lines represent the different possible association between the proteins. A red line indicates the presence of fusion evidence; a green line indicates neighborhood evidence; a blue line indicates co-occurrence evidence; a purple line indicates experimental evidence; a yellow line indicates text-mining evidence; a light blue line indicates database evidence; and a black line indicates co-expression evidence