Table 2.

Median BALF cytokine concentrations and ranges in SSc patients with and without alveolitis compared to different controls

Cytokine	Median concentration in BALF from SSc patients (range)	Median concentration in BALF from control patients (range)	P values
SSc (n = 38) versus all controls (n = 26)
IL-6	17.72 (1.7–177)	25.5 (6.3–567)	0.027
IL-7	4.43 (0–17.4)	1.95 (0–8.6)	0.0123
SSc alveolitis (n = 27) versus alveolitis due to other disease (n = 20)
IL-7	4.88 (0.75–17.4)	1.95 (0–8.6)	0.0037
SSc alveolitis (n = 27) versus alveolitis due to sarcoidosis (n = 12)
IL-7	4.88 (0.75–17.4)	2.01 (0–8.6)	0.0414
IL-8	105.5 (14.9–754)	46.3 (13.0–191.8)	0.0372
ILD-positive SSc (n = 27) versus idiopathic ILD (n = 6)
IL-7	4.88 (0.75–17.4)	2.0 (0–4)	0.0423
IL-10	2.23 (1.3–6.7)	1.75 (0–2.1)	0.0297
IL-4	3.47 (0–22.9)	0 (0–5.2)	0.048
IL-6	20.9 (1.7–177)	13.4 (6.2–20.0)	0.0496
IL-7	4.88 (0.75–17.4)	2 (0–5.8)	0.0461
IL-8	106 (14.9–794)	47 (5.9–223)	0.0132
CCL2	92.2 (14.1–2001)	24.1 (0–97.5)	0.0018
ILD-positive SSc (n = 27) versus ILD-negative controls without any lung disease (n = 6)
IL-7	4.88 (0.75–17.4)	2 (0–8.2)	0.014
IL-8	106 (14.9–794)	31 (0–112.2)	0.0143
CCL2	92.2 (14.1–2001)	31.6 (14.4–42.6)	0.0051
CCL4	46.0 (24.6–350)	21.6 (2.8–58.8)	0.0048
TNF-α	1.2 (0–8.1)	0 (0–0.6)	0.01

Concentrations are given in picograms per milliliter, with corresponding P values. Only cytokine concentrations with significant differences between the compared groups are shown.