Figure 5.

Lack of TLR2 during patent infections of Litomosoides sigmodontis dampens systemic but not local filarial‐specific IL‐5 and IL‐13 responses. WT, TLR2^−/− and TLR4^−/− BALB/c mice were naturally infected with L. sigmodontis. On day 72, mice were screened for the presence of peripheral microfilariae and lymphocytes were isolated from the spleen (a–d) or medLN (e–h). Cells were stimulated with 50 μg/ml L. sigmodontis antigen (LsAg) for 72 hr. Thereafter, levels of TNF‐α (a,e), IL‐5 (b,f), IL‐13 (c,g) and IL‐10 (d,h) were determined in the culture supernatant by ELISA. Cytokine levels within the thoracic cavity (TC) (i–l) were measured using cytometric bead assays and analysed using a BD FACS Canto and flowcytomix pro 3·0 software. Graphs show mean ± SEM of individually assessed mice from three independent infection experiments (n = 20 WT Mf⁺, n = 11 WT Mf^–, n = 12 TLR2^−/− Mf⁺ mice and n = 22 TLR4^−/− Mf⁺ mice). Asterisks indicate significant differences (analysis of variance or Student's t‐test) between the groups indicated by the brackets (*P < 0·01, **P < 0·05, ***P < 0·001).