RNA was isolated using RNeasy kit (QIAGEN) and 0.5 μg of RNA per condition was used for the cDNA synthesis using iScript Reverse Transcription Supermix (BIO-RAD), and an ABI Veriti Thermocycler (Life Technologies). SsoAdvance Universal SYBR Green Supermix and CFX96 Real Time System from BIO-RAD were used following manufacturer’s instructions for volumes and reaction settings. Primer sequences for sFlt1, MX-1 and GAPDH genes were previously described (28 (link), 33 (link), 34 (link)), and purchased from IDT Integrated DNA Technologies.