Fig 2: Transcription factor prediction in fibroblasts by SCENIC analysis. A Heatmap showing the Z-scores of transcription factor expression between the progression and late stages of CA. B Dot plot showing that key transcription factors of PLA2G2A are highly expressed in progression-stage fibroblasts. C Dendrogram and heatmap generated by Cytosig analysis showing that the progression-stage fibroblasts have a stronger response to cytokine signaling. SCENIC: Single-Cell rEgulatory Network Inference and Clustering

Fig 3: PLA2G2A promotes the progression of CA by activating the complement and coagulation cascades in macrophages. A, B Fluorescence images and fluorescence intensity quantification showing lipid uptake in RAW264.7 cells after addition of different concentrations of PLA2G2A. C, D RNA and protein expression levels of the molecules in the complement and coagulation cascades in RAW264.7 cells after treatment with ox-LDL and PLA2G2A. (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001;****p < 0.0001)

Fig 4: PLA2G2A is associated with the activation of complement and coagulation cascade pathways. A Dendrogram showing hdWGCNA analysis of the fibroblasts. B Ridge plot showing the 12 gene modules identified by co-expression analysis. C Co-expression network plot showing PLA2G2A as the hub gene of the green module. D, E Bubble plot (D) and violin plot (E) showing genes in the green module were highly expressed in the progression stage. F KEGG analysis of the hub genes in the green module showing enrichment in pathways such as complement and coagulation cascades and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction. G Dendrogram showing hdWGCNA analysis of the macrophages. H Ridge plot showing the 6 modules identified by co-expression analysis. I Network plot showing the hub genes of the turquoise module. J, K Bubble plot (J) and violin plot (K) showing genes in the turquoise module were highly expressed in the progression stage. L KEGG analysis of the hub genes in the turquoise module showing enrichment of pathways. WGCNA: Weighted gene co-expression network analysis

Fig 5: ROC curves of serum sPLA2 and Lp-PLA2 in patients with different degrees of carotid artery stenosis. The left, middle, and right panels represent mild, moderate, and severe stenosis, respectively. ROC: Receiver Operating Curve; sPLA2: Secretory phospholipases A2; Lp-PLA2: Lipoprotein-associated phospholipases A2; AUC: Area under the Receiver Operating Curve; CI: Confidence interval