Fig 3. GRA15 and GRA24 activate pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion by human macrophages.

THP1 monocyte-derived macrophages were infected with indicated Toxoplasma strains for 24 h, after which IL12/IL23p40 (a), IL1β (b) and TNFα were measured. Relative parasite growth was measured by luciferase growth assay (d). Nuclear translocation of the NFκB p65 (e), p-p38 MAPK (f), and NFκB cREL (g) subunits were quantified from infected THP1 macrophages 18 h p.i with indicated strains. In each experiment at least 15 cells were quantified. THP1 macrophages were treated with indicated inhibitors 2 h prior to infection and subsequently infected for an additional 20 h. IL12/IL23p40 (h), IL1β (i) and growth (j) were measured. Each dot represents a technical mean value from a single experiment, and each experiment was done 3 times. Statistical analysis was done by One-way ANOVA followed with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. Data are represented as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM).