FIG. 3.
Cytokines strongly induced by M. leprae. Human monocytes were stimulated with M. leprae or M. bovis BCG at a MOI of 5:1 (bacilli to monocyte). Cell supernatants were collected at 48 h postinfection for IL-1Ra and at 24 h postinfection for MCP-1 and analyzed by Luminex assay. Results are the means ± standard error of 14 and 15 experiments, respectively, for IL-1Ra and MCP-1 (representing 14 and 15 independent donors) performed in duplicate. The insets show an inverse correlation in donors between the responses of monocytes to M. leprae versus BCG. A two-tailed paired t test was used for statistical analysis. The asterisk (*) indicates the out-of-scale value of 110 (10−3 pg/ml).