Figure 3

Gene expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members measured by quantitative reverse-transcription PCR. mRNA expressions of anti-apoptotic genes (a) BCL-2 and (b) BCL-XL were quantified by quantitative reverse-transcription PCR in healthy controls (open boxes, n = 12) and septic shock patients (grey boxes) at days 1 to 2 (D1-2, n = 6) and days 3 to 5 (D3-5, n = 8) after diagnosis of shock. The targeted mRNA levels were normalized to that of the housekeeping gene peptidylpropyl isomerase B and are thus expressed as normalized ratio. Data presented as boxplots. Comparison versus healthy volunteers' (HV) values (mean) performed using the Mann-Whitney U test (*P < 0.025, ** P < 0.005).