FIG 2.

Suppressive cytokine responses to endogenous and exogenous S. aureus strains. IL-19 mRNA expression (a) and protein secretion (b) in response to endogenous strains (SA*) were increased compared to those in response to exogenous ones (SA) (n = 18 and 7; P = 0.05 and 0.03). No difference between expression levels and protein secretion levels of IL-27 (c, d) (n = 15,9; P = 0.42; 0.43) or Treg-associated factors FOXP3 (e) (n = 12; P = 0.51) and IL-10 (f, g) (n = 8,12; P = 0.29, 0.95) was seen. In each experiment, one endogenous strain was tested and compared to at least two exogenous strains. Each data point represents the FOXP3 or cytokine response of one carrier to one strain in one experiment. Lines indicate the geometric means of all of the data points in a column. (h) Ratios of cytokine responses to exogenous versus endogenous strains. When the P value is >0.2, ns indicates nonsignificance.