FIG. 6.

Effect of P. pastoris-expressed Sm16 proteins on LPS-induced production of proinflammatory cytokines in whole blood. Human blood was preincubated for 10 min with graded concentrations of P. pastoris-expressed Sm16(23-70)P (triangles) or Sm16(23-117)^AAP (squares). Cells were then cultured for 6 h in the absence (open symbols) or presence (filled symbols) of LPS (50 ng/ml), followed by analysis of IL-6 (A), TNF-α (B), and IL-1β (C) in the supernatants. The data plotted are representative of at least 10 independent analyses performed in triplicate. Blood cells from four healthy donors were analyzed and found to be indistinguishable with regard to the effect of purified Sm16 derivatives.