*2.6. Statistical Analysis*

The expression of genes between the study groups was compared using Kruskal–Wallis' non-parametric diagnostic test. A *p*-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Statistical analyses were done using MedCalc (MedCalc Software, Ostend, Belgium) and GraphPad Prism 8 (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA, USA) software.
