TABLE 3.
Plasma levels of cytokines in study participants
| Characteristic | Value for groupd |
P value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noninfected controls | P. vivax infections | P. falciparum infections | Mixed-species infections | ||
| Cytokine concn (pg ml−1) | |||||
| IL-4 | 1.9 (1.7-2.5) | 2.9 (2.4-3.6) | 2.8 (2.0-3.6) | 2.9 (2.5-3.0) | 0.066 |
| IL-12 | 30.8 (28.4-50.6) | 44.9 (30.1-75.1) | 66.7 (37.0-83.4) | 42.6 (26.2-61.7) | 0.125 |
| IFN-γ | 5.4 (3.1-8.5) | 8.3 (3.7-14.2) | 27.2 (6.6-133.5) | 4.4 (3.0-9.9) | 0.005a |
| TNF-α | 3.8 (3.0-4.3) | 5.2 (4.3-7.6) | 7.8 (4.7-20.9) | 6.5 (3.4-13.8) | <0.0001b |
| IL-10 | 6.2 (4.4-9.1) | 176.4 (23.6-455.6) | 56.8 (21.0-103.5) | 24.5 (6.5-68.1) | <0.0001c |
| TGF-β | 379 (178-1,440) | 457 (290-773) | 593 (392-1,107) | 502 (364-1,707) | 0.603 |
| IL-10/TNF-α ratio | 1.65 (1.25-1.95) | 18.99 (4.21-93.37 | 5.52 (1.06-21.38) | 2.24 (1.57-7.82) | <0.0001c |
| No. of subjects | 18 | 42 | 19 | 14 | |
a
Significant differences between noninfected controls and P. falciparum-infected patients(P < 0.05) and between P. falciparum-infected and mixed-infection patients(P < 0.05).
b
Significant differences between noninfected controls and all groups of patients (P values of <0.05 to <0.001) but not between groups of patients.
c
Significant differences between noninfected controls and P. vivax-infected patients (P < 0.001) and between noninfected controls and P. falciparum-infected patients (P < 0.01).
d
Data are presented as medians (interquartile ranges) and were compared across four groups with Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results of post hoc Dunn's multiple comparison tests are indicated in the other footnotes.