Skip to main content
. 2012 Mar 15;7(3):e33780. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0033780

Table 3. Cytokine and BAL cell levels in BALF from 1) Healthy controls 2) Asthmatic controls and 3) Asthmatics following provocation.a .

Variable Healthy controls (HC) Asthmatic controls (AC) Asthmatics following provocation (AFP) Significanceb
HC/AC HC/AFP AC/AFP Trendc
AVd CVe AV CV AV CV p p p p
Age 25 17 30 25 30 25 0.15 0.17 0.35 N.D.f
Mast cells 1.6 188 5.5 87 7.8 86 0.056 0.023 0.36 0.0050
Eosinophils 0.29 82 0.30 107 1.0 107 0.94 0.10 0.10 0.40
Neutrophils 1.3 49 0.60 73 1.2 73 0.017 0.66 0.093 N.D.
CD3+CD4+FOXP3 6.9 51 9.5 79 15 51 0.39 0.016 0.032 0.0070
CD3+CD45RO+ 15 57 15 126 16 120 1.0 0.91 0.93 0.20
CD3+CD4+CXCR3+CCR4+ 0.32 145 0.057 265 0.0 0.0 0.23 N.D. N.D. N.D.
CD3+CD4+CD161+ 10 63 6.4 119 8.1 70 0.32 0.50 0.71 0.43
CD3+CD8+CD161+ 10 101 2.9 87 7.6 154 0.11 0.67 0.24 0.087
CD3+CD11a+ 73 38 47 57 49 29 0.11 0.068 0.80 0.32
CD3-CXCR3+ 9.1 125 5.6 135 3.2 60 0.54 0.26 0.37 0.036
CD3-CD16+CD56+ 0.88 29 0.70 130 0.5 68 0.63 0.056 0.59 0.34
CD3-CD16+CD56+CXCR3+ 29 36 33 88 15 28 0.76 0.010 0.20 0.16
CD3-CD14+HLA-DR+ 73 38 47 57 49 29 0.11 0.068 0.86 0.036
IL-5 4.9 79 17 65 156 93 0.019 0.021 0.031 0.0060
IL-9 4.4 101 18 65 56 78 0.014 0.012 0.028 0.0030
IL-6 367 46 709 75 997 89 0.12 0.086 0.35 0.070
IL-10g 5.4 144 5.5 67 9.4 76 0.97 0.29 0.043 0.071
a

Selected variables displayed in Figure 4, cell populations are defined in Methods. Units for each of the variable groups are defined as: age (years), cell populations (% of total population in BAL cells, except for mast cells, which are given as the number of cells per 10 visual fields in a Bürker chamber), immunological markers (proportion of cells expressing a set of markers among another defined cell population as defined in Tables S4 and S5), and cytokines (fg/ml BALF) as reported in Thunberg et al. [42].

b

Statistical significance was calculated with either an unpaired or paired Student's t-test. Values with p<0.05 are shown in italics with two significant figures.

c

The median levels among the healthy controls (HC) regarding each variable were used as a cut off limit for all three groups (i.e., Healthy Controls, Asthmatic Controls and Asthmatics Following Provocation). All p-values regarding trend are one-sided.

d

Average.

e

Coefficient of variance.

f

N.D. = value not determined.

g

The IL-10 data consisted of a significant range in individual values, with one healthy individual possessing a value of 26.1 fg/ml, which did not pass a Qcrit test. However, since this individual was included in the original Thunberg et al. [42] paper, it was not removed from this analysis. Exclusion of this individual from the trend test gave p = 0.042 and the resulting Student's t-test values were: HC/AC p = 0.08, HC/AFP p = 0.04, and AC/AFP p = 0.04.