Role of Secreted Conjunctival Mucosal Cytokine and Chemokine Proteins in Different Stages of Trachomatous Disease
Figure 4
Persistent IL-1β elevation with significantly diminished IL-1Ra and IL-12p40 levels distinguish TT/TI from controls.
Cytokine and chemokine concentrations within conjunctival mucosal secretions from Nepali patients exhibiting TT/TI were compared to age and sex matched controls. The data are grouped into four categories with significant differences: (A) proinflammatory cytokines, (B) Th1/Th2/Th3, (C) IL-2 cytokine family, and (D) chemokines, representing individual conjunctival mucosal secretory concentrations from TT/TI patients (n = 38) and age and sex matched controls (T0, n = 38). Lines designate geometric means of each group. Statistical differences between TT/TI and T0 was denoted * P<0.05, ** P<0.01 and *** P<0.001, Wilcoxon rank-sum test.