Figure 5.

Production of MMP7 (ng/mL) in tissue culture supernatants collected from cases and controls. Freshly isolated PBMCs from cases or controls were cultured with PWM, serovar A EBs, or culture medium alone for 6 days. Production of MMP7 by cells in culture medium alone was the highest in both cases and controls. Stimulation with either PWM or EB inhibited the spontaneous production of MMP7 by PBMCs. This difference in levels reached borderline significance in response to stimulation with EBs, such that in cases (median [IQR] = 0.48 [1.52–0.35] ng/mL) stimulation with EBs has a lesser effect on the inhibition of MMP7 production than in controls (median [IQR] = 0.35 [0.62–0.128] ng/mL).