Table 3.

Mean values of cytokines in the culture supernatants from acute (A) and healed (B) VL patients

Cytokines −(pg/ml)	A		B
+	−	+	−
IFN-γ	20 ± 3	12 ± 2*	20 ± 4	60 ± 6†
IL-10	25 ± 4	40 ± 9**	23 ± 5	40 ± 3**
IL-4	5 ± 2	13 ± 3**	15 ± 2	20 ± 3

Frozen PBMC from five VL patients, studied in acute and healed phases of disease, were cultured for 24 hr in medium alone (–) or in the presence of LAg (+) (2 × 10⁷ equivalent promastigotes). Supernatants were filtered (25 µm) and tested for cytokine contents. Cytokine production by frozen PBMC from five healthy controls: IFN-γ: 6 ± 2 pg/ml; IL-10: 4 ± 1 pg/ml; IL-4: 0·8 ± 0·2 pg/ml. Data are expressed as mean ± SE.

^*P < 0·01: significantly different from healed subjects.

^**P < 0·05: significantly different from unstimulated cultures.

^†P < 0·01: significantly different from unstimulated cultures.