Proteomic profiles and comparison of identified proteomes among the AAA-high mCRP, AAA-low mCRP, and AAD groups.

(A) Two-dimensional principal component analysis plots using quantitative protein information. (B) Venn diagram showing the overlap of differentially expressed proteins among the three groups. (C) Hierarchical clustering of top abundant 1,127 DEPs between AAD, AAA-low mCRP, and AAA-high mCRP groups (ANOVA t-test, permutation-based FDR ≤0.01). Rows represent proteins and columns represent different samples. Darker shades of red and blue each indicate increased and decreased expressions compared with control. This figure was generated using Instant Clue (version 0.9.2 from http://www.instantclue.uni-koeln.de/) (D) Volcano plots illustrating significantly differentially abundant proteins between AAD, AAA-low mCRP, and AAA-high mCRP groups. Each dot indicates a protein and red colors indicate significantly enriched proteins with q values <0.05 and fold changes of more than ± 2-fold change, and permutation-base FDR ≤0.01. AAA-low mCRP indicates aortic aneurysm with weak and focal CRP immunopositivity; AAA-high mCRP, Aortic aneurysm with strong and diffuse CRP; AAD, ascending aortic dissection.