Fig. 4.

Cytokines of monocyte-derived dendritic cells after stimulation with LPS from neonatal stool and in neonatal plasma. a Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was isolated from faecal samples collected on day 3 postpartum from neonates in groups of vaginal delivery (VD), caesarean section delivery (CSD) and CSD with small for gestational age (SGA) status (CSD + SGA), and incubated for 24 h with human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs) isolated from a total of 12 adult donors. MoDCs were stimulated with the exact same LPS volume that was extractable from the same initial amount of faecal material from each neonate sample (Methods). Exact numbers of donors used per sample are given in the plot. Positive control: LPS isolated from E. coli overnight culture. Neonates C115 and C116 are twins. b Plasma levels of TNF-α and IL-18 in samples collected at day 3 after birth from VD and CSD (±SGA) neonates. Comparison by Wilcoxon rank-sum test with multiple testing adjustment; *false discovery rate (FDR)-adjusted P < 0.05 and **FDR-adjusted P < 0.01. Circles correspond to neonates with metagenomic data, crosses represent neonates without metagenomic data. Boxplots: centre line – median, bounds – first and third quartile, whiskers <= 1.5 × interquartile range