Table 2– Comparative circulating endothelial cell (CEC), CD34+CD133+ and endothelial cell colony-forming unit (CFU-EC) counts in pulmonary artery (PA) and peripheral vein (PV) blood samples obtained during catheterisation
ControlsPAHCTEPH
Subjects n799
CEC counts in blood cells·mL−1
 PV2.0 (0–11)12 (1–36)3 (0–25)
 PA4 (0–20)8 (5–53)2 (0–14)
 PV versus PAp = 0.81p = 0.31p = 0.31
 Versus controls (PV)p = 0.01p = 0.55
 Versus PAH (PV)p = 0.04
CD34+CD133+ counts per 105 lymphocytes
 PV53.3 (23–79)43.3 (3–86)20 (16–89)
 PA50 (20–99)31.6 (0–79)36.6 (16–86)
 PV versus PAp = 0.84p = 0.81p = 0.19
 Versus controls (PV)p = 0.85p = 0.17
 Versus PAH (PV)p = 0.13
CFU-EC counts cells per 106 mononuclear cells
 PV8.4 (0–23)4 (0–11)6.3 (0–3)
 PA8 (1–28)3.7 (0–10.2)4 (0–19.1)
 PV versus PAp = 0.43p = 0.25p = 0.31
 Versus controls (PV)p = 0.19p = 0.48
 Versus PAH (PV)p = 0.36

  • Data are presented as geometric mean (95% confidence intervals), unless otherwise stated. As the sampling site and interaction effects were not statistically significant, the groups were further compared independently of the sampling site. PAH: pulmonary arterial hypertension; CTEPH: chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Significant p-values are shown in bold.