FIG. 3.

Relative mRNA expression of USP18 and IRF7 in PBMC stimulated with type I and II IFNs. Real-time qPCR was used to determine the relative mRNA expression of USP18 (a) and IRF7 (b) in PBMC stimulated with type I (IFN-α and IFN-β at 10⁴ U/mL) and type II (IFN-γ at 1 μg/mL) IFNs for 24 h. The results for each patient (IFN-α, n=19; IFN-β, n=18; IFN-γ, n=14) and control (IFN-α, n=21; IFN-β, n=20; IFN-γ, n=20) are displayed as means of triplicates. Nonparametric Mann–Whitney U-test was used to test for statistical differences between patients and controls for each IFN (*P<0.05). n.s., not significant; qPCR, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.