Fig. 2.

Cytokine profile of natural killer (NK) cells from healthy individuals and atopic dermatitis (AD) patients. Purified NK cells were cultured for 72 h without any stimulation. Spontaneously secreted cytokines were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results show mean ± s.d. of five AD and five healthy individuals (a). Purified NK cells were stimulated with PHA, PMA and ionomycin for 12 h. Intracytoplasmic cytokines were determined by flow cytometry. Results are from representative donors of three AD patients and three healthy individuals tested (b). NK1 and NK2 cell subsets were differentiated from freshly isolated NK cells of AD patients. Cytokines were determined from supernatants 3 days after PHA stimulation. Results are shown as mean ± s.d. of six experiments (c). *P < 0·01.