A gender-related action of IFNbeta-therapy was found in multiple sclerosis

Table 1 The levels of the different types of specific cytokines in healthy subjects

Whole blood and PBMC supernatants
Healthy subjects
Men
Basic condition			PHA		LPS
pg/ml	Mean^wb± SD	Mean^s± SD	Mean^wb± SD	Mean^s± SD	Mean^wb± SD
IL10	4,9 ± 13,4	26 ± 40,2	37,6 ± 43,2	93,7 ± 116,7	61,1 ± 96,4
IFNγ	149 ± 194,3	161,8 ± 146,2	1752 ± 2344,5	415,7 ± 389,3	1473,2 ± 2408
IL6	133,3 ± 376,2	390,7 ± 495,7	235,7 ± 303,2	1386,3 ± 2138,3	573,5 ± 714,9
IL2	256 ± 181.8	64,1 ± 78,2	248,7 ± 233,4	290,4 ± 196,8
IL4	15,5 ± 32,2	7,4 ± 10,4	21,9 ± 29	21,8 ± 24,4
Women
Basic condition			PHA		LPS
pg/ml	Mean ^wb ± SD	Mean ^s ± SD	Mean ^wb ± SD	Mean ^s ± SD	Mean ^wb ± SD
IL10	26 ± 46,3	155 ± 180,8	6,9 ± 8,8	143 ± 155,4	72,9 ± 150,3
IFNγ	70,1 ± 110	173,2 ± 74,4	1300,3 ± 2294	1071,1 ± 1102,2	1603 ± 4603
IL6	34,8 ± 67,9	243,3 ± 293,4	104,4 ± 156	1921,5 ± 1654	316,7 ± 322,6
IL2	153,6 ± 140	238,8 ± 247,1	222,4 ± 193	573,4 ± 438,1
IL4	29,4 ± 47,7	24,3 ± 36,6	76,6 ± 115,7	9,7 ± 4,7

Cytokine levels were determined in whole blood (wb) and PBMC supernatant (s) in resting (Basic conditions) and activation conditions after stimulation with PHA (to study T cell network contribution) and LPS (to evaluate the influence of antigen presenting cells). The levels are expressed as mean ± SD, and statistical differences between men and women were assessed using the Mann–Whitney U-test or Student’s t-test as appropriate. Production levels of cytokines did not differ significantly with the exception of IL10 (using the ^wb method) which was higher in men than in women when PHA stimulus was used (p = 0.038).

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