2.4. Small Extracellular Vesicles in Cardiac Patients
Neither particle, nor protein, nor RNA concentration were significantly altered by treatment within the follow-up time. Similarly, the particle to protein and particle to RNA ratios did not change. However, in the overall patient cohort, the protein concentration increased significantly at day 1, month 1, month 3 and month 6 (median [IQR]: 244.8 [167.3–287.1] µg/mL vs. 299.9 [214.5–334.4] µg/mL [Small EV size in both groups throughout all timepoints was 105.203 [IQR: 99.680–110.611] nm, which is within the normal range of small EVs. A group difference was only observed at screening, at which point the small EV size was significantly smaller in control patients (median [IQR]: 109.7 [105.2–115.3] nm vs. 101.7 [100.5–101.9] nm, Small EV concentration correlated negatively with troponin (In contrast, the protein to RNA ratio correlated with NT-proBNP (