Fig. 1

Plasmatic concentrations of fatty acid hydroperoxides, malondialdehyde, α-tocopherol and 7-ketocholesterol in control and DM2 subjects. a Fatty acid hydroperoxides (HP), b Malondialdehyde (MDA), c α-tocopherol and d 7-ketocholesterol were extracted from plasma samples, separated, identified and quantified by HPLC as reported in “Materials and methods” section. HP shows a significantly higher concentration in DM2 subjects as compared to non-diabetic controls (p < 0.001). MDA was much higher in DM2 patients versus controls (p < 0.001) and significantly even higher in DM2 subjects positive for HHV8 compared to HHV8-negative DM2 (p < 0.01). Whereas α-tocopherol shows a decrease in both DM2 and HHV8 (either positive or negative) subjects (p < 0.01), 7-ketocholesterol was significantly higher in all the HHV8-positive samples (p < 0.01); there was a general increase in 7-ketocholesterol in DM2 subjects versus non-DM2 controls. A further significant increase in 7-ketocholesterol (p < 0.001) was detected in DM2 HHV8-positive samples. The data are expressed as the mean concentration values + SEM and significance is indicated with (*) when p < 0.05, (**) when p < 0.01 or (***) when p < 0.001, as calculated by ANOVA and Bonferroni as post hoc tests. CTR non-diabetic control subjects, DM2 diabetic subjects, HHV8 infected subjects (patterned bars)