Quantitative real-time PCR confirmation of selected genes with differential expression in phagocytically challenged human TM cells under physiological (black bars) and oxidative stress (stripped bars) conditions.

<p>The expression levels were calculated using the formula 2^−ΔCt, where ΔCt = Ct_gene−Ct _{average housekeeping}. β-Actin, GAPDH, and HPRT1 served as internal standard for normalization. Values represent mean ± SD. (*) compares phagocytically challenged versus control cultures; (^#) compares oxidatively stressed versus cultures grown under physiological conditions. *, ^# p<0.05, **, ^## p<0.005, ***, ^### p<0.0005 (t-test, n = 3).