FIG 6.

Infant and adult airway epithelial cell cytokine responses to poly(I·C) treatment. IFN-α and IL-8 cytokine responses were measured at 24 h after treatment with 10 mg/ml poly(I·C) in infant and adult airway epithelial cell cultures (n = 4). Transcripts of cytokine genes and GAPDH were measured in epithelial cells by RT-PCR, and absolute gene copy numbers relative to the GAPDH copy number were calculated based on standard curves. Cytokine protein secretion into the basolateral medium was measured by an ELISA. Values are reported as the fold change over the average values for age-matched unstimulated controls. Bar graphs represent means and SEM. *, P < 0.05 by Student's t test comparing infant and adult values.