Minocycline suppresses LPS-induced cytokine gene expression and release. (A) Primary human monocytes were pretreated with 0, 10, 20, 40 µM minocycline (Mino) for 2 h and then treated with LPS (50 ng/ml) for another 4 h. IL-6, TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA levels (A), and IL-6 and TNF-α release (B) were determined by RT-PCR and specific ELISA as described in Materials and Methods, respectively. Data are presented as means ± SEM of at least three different monocyte preparations assayed individually. Individual groups were compared by one-way ANOVA followed by Newman-Keuls posttest. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 compared with LPS; ###P<0.001 compared with Saline.