Figure 4.

EHEC stimulation of IL-8 and hBD2 expression in colonic biopsies requires flagellin. Colonic biopsies were infected with EHEC EDL933 wild-type (WT), isogenic deletion mutants in fliC, escN, or stx or left NI on the mucosal side, and incubations were performed for 7 h. IL-8 and hBD2 mRNA levels were quantified by qPCR and expressed as fold changes relative to matched NI controls. Data points represent individual biopsies from a total of four patients. Medians are indicated by a line. ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001 vs. NI control.