Figure 6.

IL-20 was upregulated in the serum of patients with DM. (a) The serum levels of IL-20 were analyzed in 46 healthy volunteers and 78 patients with DM. The mean levels of IL-20 were 59.70 pg ml⁻¹ in healthy volunteers, and 309.80 pg ml⁻¹ in DM patients. The lines inside the boxes represent the mean IL-20 values. **P<0.01 compared with healthy controls. The data are representative of three independent experiments. (b) To analyze the association between IL-20 and DM patients with kidney dysfunction, 78 patients with DM were divided into four groups according to the GFR (DM-group 1, GFR>100, n=27; DM-group 2, GFR 90-100, n=6; DM-group 3, GFR 60-89, n=30; DM-group 4, GFR<60, n=15). The mean levels of IL-20 were 59.70, 137.51, 692.15, 392.43 and 301.70 pg ml⁻¹ in healthy volunteers, DM-group 1, DM-group 2, DM-group 3 and DM-group 4, respectively. The lines inside the boxes represent the mean IL-20 values. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 compared with the healthy controls. The data are representative of three independent experiments.