Figure 2.

Citrullination of LL-37 modulates cytokine expression and secretion induced by human rhinovirus. Purified HRV1B viral particles were pre-treated with 30 μg (A–C) or 10 μg (D–F) of native or differentially citrullinated LL-37 peptides for 2 h and incubated with 16HBE14°− cells for 1 h at a final MOI of 1. Cells were washed to remove inoculum and left 24 h before RNA extraction. Levels of IL-8 (A), IL-6 (B), and CCL5 (C) mRNA transcripts were addressed by qPCR. Values represent fold-changes over uninfected cells. Protein concentrations of IL-8 (D), IL-6 (E), and CCL5 (F) released into cell supernatants were assessed by ELISA. Data represent mean values ± SEM for n = 3 experiments for each condition. *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001. Statistical analysis performed by one-way ANOVA with Dunnet multiple comparisons test.