Fig. 2.

The effect of TNF-α on expression (delta Ct) of biosensor genes in vitro using hUVECs. Serum samples obtained from three workers with lowest levels of TNF-α were spiked with exogenous TNF-α at 0, 360, 720 and 1440 pg/ml as final concentrations. The highest concentration of added TNF-α is about 2-fold higher than the highest level seen in study subjects. Cultures of biosensor assay were conducted in duplicates. The slopes were listed as estimates in supplemental Table 3. Among the seven biosensor genes studied, ICAM, VCAM, CCL2, and CXCL8 expressions were identified to be dramatically induced by TNF-α treatment. Relative quantification ranged from 1.88 for CXCL8 to 3.05 for CCL2 per 500 pg/ml addition of TNF-α in the culture medium