Blood lipid profiles and peripheral blood mononuclear cell cholesterol metabolism gene expression in patients with and without methotrexate treatment

Table 2 Blood lipid profiles and cholesterol metabolic gene expressions in study subjects

	Normal range	Non-MTX users (n = 32)	MTX users (n = 67)	Pvalue^a
TC, mg/dl	≤200 mg/dl	167.5 (162.8 to 192.4)	172.0 (169.3 to 185.5)	0.367
TG, mg/dl	≤150 mg/dl	81.0 (75.7 to 105.1)	71.0 (73.2 to 90.7)	0.344
TC/HDL-C	<4	1.34 (1.25 to 1.71)	1.38 (1.30 to 1.59)	0.884
HDL-C, mg/dl	≥60 mg/dl	66.0 (59.4 to 71.8)	69.0 (65.0 to 74.0)	0.410
LDL-C, mg/dl	≤100 mg/dl	85.7 (79.6 to 102.6)	89.0 (85.8 to 99.9)	0.673
LDL-C/HDL-C		2.72 (2.51 to 3.07)	2.60 (2.53 to 2.88)	0.736
*ABCA/18S*		0.09 (0.03 to 0.77)	0.15 (0.43 to 2.60)	0.021
*HY27/18S*		0.07 (-0.05 to 1.41)	0.19 (0.32 to 5.40)	0.037

Results are expressed as median (95% CI) (n = 99). Normal ranges of plasma lipid profiles: TC (total cholesterol) ≤200 mg/dl; TG (triglyceride) ≤150 mg/dl; HDL-C (high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol) ≥60 mg/dl; LDL-C (low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol) ≤100 mg/dl.
^aData were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test. Bold text in tables represent significantly different (p < 0.05)
ABCA1 = ATP-binding cassette transporter A1; HY27 = 27-hydroxylase; MTX = methotrexate.

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