Figure 1

Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of members of the BMP and TGFβ family in central chondrosarcoma . Expression levels of BMP2, BMP4, BMP7, TGFB1, TGFB2, TGFB3, ACVRL1/ALK1, ACVR1/ALK2 and TGFBR1/ALK5 were assessed in normal cartilage (CART; n=6), grade I (CCSI; n=10), grade II (CCSII; n=10) and grade III (CCSIII; n=7) central chondrosarcoma samples and are shown as percentage of the mean expression levels of the reference genes. The median relative expression levels in chondrosarcoma and cartilage samples are represented by solid black lines, the boxes represent the interquartile range (IQR) extending between the 25th and 75th percentile and the whiskers extend to a maximum of 1.5 IQR. Outlier values are shown as empty circles. Statistical analysis is based on the non-parametric Mann–Whitney test after bonferroni correction (p<0.0125). # indicates significant difference in comparison to grade III; * indicates significant difference in comparison to all CCS.