Table 2. Levels of immune mediators and endogenous antimicrobial activity in female genital tract samples by CVL diluents.
| Collection methoda | CVL (Normosol) | CVL (Saline) | CVL (Water) | p-valuee |
| Protein (µg/ml) | 724.5c (671–836) | 688 (668–777) | 692 (664–799) | 0.43 |
| GM-CSF (pg/ml) | 1.5 (0.8–2.4) | 1.6 (1.2–7.1) | 1.3 (0.5–2.4) | 0.02 |
| IL-1β (pg/ml) | 5.8 (0.1–483) | 8.9 (0.2–204) | 3.7 (0.2–39.0) | 0.82 |
| IL-6 (pg/ml) | 9.5 (0.3–92.9) | 9.5 (0.06–33.2) | 4.9 (0.3–92.3) | 0.85 |
| IL-8 (pg/ml) | 223.5 (9.0–3186) | 328.3 (30.7–1866) | 155.0 (2.7–1470) | 0.26 |
| IL-12p40 (pg/ml) | 2.8 (0.1–12.2) | 2.0 (1.5–48.5) | 4.3 (1.6–10.0) | 0.70 |
| Lf (ng/ml) | 364 (12.4–4777) | 309 (50.1–785) | 184.2 (8.0–1354) | 0.84 |
| SLPI (ng/ml) | 284.3 (7.9–2624) | 504.9 (13.4–3908) | 32.6 (2.8–2710) | 0.02 |
| HNP1-3 (µg/ml) | 34.8 (18.3–2204) | 108 (16.2–1181) | 57.1 (16.0–4307) | 0.58 |
| HβD-1 (pg/ml) | 7732 (1102–16209) | 4228 (822–12994) | 995 (150–8009) | 0.03 |
| HβD-2 (pg/ml) | 485 (96–818) | 500 (96–633) | 161.5 (9.6–538) | 0.004 |
| HβD-3 (pg/ml) | 710 (182–2962) | 1376 (175–11944) | 228.5 (121–1113) | <0.001 |
| Anti-E. coli (% inh.)b | 79.5 (20–100) | 62 (47–100) | ntd | 0.52 |
| Anti-HIV-1 (% inh.) | 41.3 (−7–63) | 68.5 (12–99.5) | nt | 0.008 |
a
CVL, cervicovaginal lavage.
b
% inhibition – negative values reflect increased growth of E. coli or enhancement of infection of HIV-1.
c
median (range).
d
nt = not tested.
e
p-value: Global p-value based on the comparison of protein-adjusted, log-transformed immune mediators and endogenous antimicrobial activity by CVL diluents.