Table 1. Median levels of inflammatory markers in the two subgroups of subfertile men (hypo- and eugonadal) as compared to the 20 controls.
| All (n = 60) | Subfertile | Controls (n = 20) | ||||||||||
| HG (n = 20) | EG (n = 20) | |||||||||||
| Cytokine/Chemokine | Median | Min | Max | Median | Median | Median | P crude, HG vs. contr. | P adj, HG vs. contr. | P crude, EG vs. contr. | P adj, EG vs. contr. | P crude, HG vs. EG | P adj, HG vs. EG |
| IL8 (pg/mL) | 9.20 (5.61–17.3) | 1.20 | 203 | 9.31 (5.88–15.6) | 8.71 (5.61–17.3) | 9.31 (5.37–26.0) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| IL12p70 (pg/mL) | 3.44 (0.40–21.0) | 0.40 | 1099 | 3.78 (0.40–17.4) | 2.77 (0.77–19.0) | 4.46 (0.40–27.0) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| IL17 (pg/mL) | 1.90 (0.34–6.47) | 0.2 | 182 | 1.51 (0.25–3.75) | 2.33 (0.40–7.76) | 2.39 (0.39–7.73) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| EGF (pg/mL)a | 140 (94.7–254) | 39.2 | 640 | 130 (79.3–234) | 194 (117–287) | 130 (94.3–199) | NS | NS | NS | * | NS | NS |
| FGF2 (pg/mL) | 22.0 (3.47–45.2) | 1.8 | 259 | 17.0 (1.80–40.8) | 28.9 (8.46–47.7) | 22.6 (8.46–54.0) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| IFNG (pg/mL) | 2.73 (0.75–13.7) | 0.1 | 288 | 3.09 (0.31–10.1) | 2.00 (0.75–20.4) | 3.33 (1.07–23.3) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| IP10 (pg/mL) | 199 (152–249) | 52.9 | 1021 | 168 (145–328) | 182 (154–232) | 213 (171–254) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| MCP-1 (pg/mL) | 488 (383–587) | 199 | 1269 | 496 (402–666) | 472 (384–570) | 479 (340–610) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| MIP1a (pg/mL) | 15.2 (8.61–26.6) | 3.50 | 102 | 17.6 (5.40–26.6) | 14.3 (10.0–20.4) | 17.2 (9.04–35.5) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| MIP1B (pg/mL) | 50.8 (36.4–71.7) | 12.0 | 296 | 52.0 (37.0–70.8) | 52.1 (36.8–81.3) | 45.3 (27.3–69.0) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| TNFa (pg/mL) | 7.93 (5.85–11.7) | 2.23 | 42.1 | 8.74 (6.14–18.3) | 8.35 (4.84–11.6) | 7.83 (5.85–9.43) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| hs-CRP (mg/L) | 0.10 (0.04–0.17) | 0.02 | 2.23 | 0.15 (0.06–0.47) | 0.11 (0.05–0.15) | 0.05 (0.02–0.11) | ** | ** | * | * | NS | NS |
Data are median (interquartile range) due to non-Gaussian distribution. Univariate regression analysis after log-transformation. P adj refers to adjustment for age and BMI. Non-detectable levels of inflammatory markers and levels below the lower detection limit of the assay (Table S1) were replaced by a value corresponding to the lower detection limit (assay sensitivity). HG, hypogonadal; EG, eugonadal; IL1B, interleukin 1-beta; IL1ra, interleukin 1-receptor antagonist; IL, interleukin; EGF, epithelial growth factor; FGF2, fibroblast growth factor 2; IFNG, interferon gamma; IP10, interferon gamma-induced protein 10; MCP1, monocyte chemotactic protein 1; MIP1a, macrophage inflammatory protein 1-alpha; MIP1B, macrophage inflammatory protein 1-beta; TNFa, tumor necrosis factor alpha; hs-CRP, high sensitive c-reactive protein;
a, one missing sample,
, P<0.05;
, P<0.01.