Figure 4.

Cytokines secreted by splenocytes from immunized mice upon stimulation of mixed peptides T2 and T5 in vitro. Splenocytes secreted IFN-γ (a), IL-2 (b), IL-4 (c), IL-5 (d), and IL-6 (e) were detected by ELISA seven days after the final immunization. Splenocytes of each sample were stimulated simultaneously with ConA (5 μg/ml) as positive controls. All cytokines were greatly elevated upon stimulation with ConA, and the highest levels were observed as follows: IFN-γ—1280 pg/ml; IL-2—640 pg/ml; IL-4—60 pg/ml; IL-5—125 pg/ml; and IL-6—857 pg/ml (data not shown in the figure). The results are shown as the mean + SD (one representative experiment out of three). ^∗∗P < 0.01 (n = 5).