Fig. 5.

Reduction of organ damage in anti-IL-1β treated mice leads to improved survival.

Distant organ damage was assessed by evaluating histopathology in liver (A) 24 and 72 h postinfection with B pseudomallei intranasally. Additionally, plasma levels of aspartate transaminase (AST; B) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; C) were determined 72 h postinfection when histopathological damage was most profound. Data are presented as means ± SEM. (n = 7–8/group) ^∗P <0.05; ^∗∗P <0.01 compared with controls. Survival of B pseudomallei-challenged wild-type mice (n = 20/group) that either received PBS (control, closed circles) or were treated with anti-IL1β antibody (α-IL-1β) at 6 (open circles) or 24 h (open squares) postinfection was monitored (D). After 7 days (168 h) a second dose of α-IL-1β antibody was administered. The infected mice were observed four to six times daily for 11 days (266 h). ^∗∗P <0.01 versus controls (Kruskal–Wallis test, followed by separate Mann–Whitney U tests; for the survival experiment, Kaplan–Meier analysis followed by log-rank test was performed).