Fig. 4

NUC treated CHB patients show comparable cytokine responses to HBcAg and HBsAg compared to treatment naïve CHB patients in whole blood. Lower limit of detection (Background + 3x S.D.) was at 2 – 5 pg/ml for IFNγ and IL2. n = 72 CHB patients, whereas n = 40 NUC treatment naive and n = 32 NUC treated. Every patient was tested against HBV antigens HBcAg and HBsAg. (a) IFNγ, (b) IL2. Negative control values were deducted from the antigen induced responses. All values are given as mean concentration pg/ml ± S.E.M. Unpaired t-test, following symbol pinpoints significant differences: *. One symbol equals 0.05, two symbols 0.01, three symbols 0.001, n.s. not significant