Table 3.
Correlation Between Cytokine Production and Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) Growth or Scar Severity
| Variable | Day 0 (Challenge), P (r)a |
Day 2, P (r)a |
Day 7, P (r)a |
Day 14 (Biopsy), P (r)a |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BCG Growth | Scar | BCG Growth | Scar | BCG Growth | Scar | BCG Growth | Scar | |
| Flow cytometry | ||||||||
| CD4+ IFN-γ+ | NS | NS | NS | .0102 (0.5737) | ND | ND | <.0001 (−0.7754) | .002 (0.6614) |
| CD4+ TNF-α+ | NS | NS | NS | .0139 (0.5538) | ND | ND | <.0001 (−0.7675) | .0017 (0.6702) |
| CD4+ IL-2+ | NS | NS | NS | .0073 (0.5940) | ND | ND | <.0001 (−0.7860) | .001 (0.6924) |
| CD4+ IL-17+ | NS | NS | NS | NS | ND | ND | .0063 (−0.552) | NS |
| CD8+ IFN-γ+ | NS | NS | NS | NS | ND | ND | <.0001 (−0.7233) | .0013 (0.6819) |
| Gene expression | ||||||||
| CXCL3 | .003 (−0.6) | .018 (0.5) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| NOD2 | .001 (0.6) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | .024 (0.5) | NS |
| FCGR1B | .03 (0.5) | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | .01 (0.6) | NS |
| IL10RB | .0003 (0.7) | .035 (−0.5) | NS | NS | NS | .045 (−0.4) | NS | NS |
| IL17F | .011 (−0.5) | .006 (0.6) | NS | NS | .002 (−0.7) | .017 (0.6) | <.0001 (−0.8) | .006 (0.7) |
| F3 | .04 (−0.4) | NS | .015 (−0.5) | NS | NS | NS | .031 (−0.5) | NS |
| FAS | .018 (−0.5) | .018 (0.5) | NS | NS | .026 (−0.5) | .013 (0.6) | NS | .044 (0.5) |
| LILR A5/A6/B2 | .01 (0.5) | .02 (−0.5) | NS | NS | .01 (0.5) | .02 (−0.5) | .01 (0.6) | .02 (−0.5) |
| IL5 | NS | .029 (0.5) | NS | NS | .014 (−0.5) | .024 (0.5) | .005 (−0.6) | .003 (0.7) |
| IFNG | NS | .02 (0.5) | NS | NS | .003 (−0.6) | .014 (0.6) | .031 (−0.5) | NS |
| IL2 | NS | NS | .011 (−0.6) | .016 (0.6) | .024 (−0.5) | .027 (0.5) | .003 (−0.6) | NS |
Cytokine production was measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated by purified protein derivative/BCG, with the background value (unstimulated) subtracted. BCG growth and scar severity were determined 14 days after challenge.
Abbreviations: BCG, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin; IFN-γ, interferon γ; IL-2, interleukin 2; IL-17, interleukin 17; LILR, lymphocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor; ND, assay not done; NS, not significant; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor α.
a P values are not corrected, and all correlations are Spearman r. Correlations were performed for all 24 volunteers, separately for each day.