Figure 1. Expression of inflammatory cytokines does not differ between COVID-19 and non-COVID sepsis and ARDS.
Cytokine expression levels of 2 replicates per sample were measured in plasma using Luminex and normalized for nonspecific binding, resulting in the mean of plate-detrended median fluorescence intensity (dpMFI) values for each cytokine per sample. Moderate COVID-19 (COV-noICU, orange), n = 6. Severe COVID-19 (COV-ICU, purple), n = 9. ARDS (pink), n = 12. Sepsis (green), n = 16. Circles represent subjects with COVID-19, triangles represent subjects with ARDS, and squares represent subjects with sepsis. The box plot visualizes the following summary statistics: the middle line represents the median; the lower hinge corresponds to the first quartile (25th); the upper hinge corresponds to the third quartile (75th); upper and lower whiskers extend from the hinge respectively to the largest value and smallest value or no further than 1.5 × interquartile range; data beyond the whiskers are outliers. Wilcoxon rank sum tests were performed for each cytokine, observing COV-ICU compared with COV-noICU, ARDS, and sepsis. P values were adjusted for multiple comparisons using the Benjamini-Hochberg correction method. No cytokines had adjusted P < 0.05. P values for comparison between COV-noICU and COV-ICU: IL-1β, P = 0.53, adjusted P = 0.79; IL-1RA, P = 0.036, adjusted P = 0.22; IL-6, P = 0.018, adjusted P = 0.16; IL-8, P = 0.46, adjusted P = 0.79; IL-18, P = 0.27, adjusted P = 0.70; TNF-α, P = 0.86, adjusted P = 0.99. P values for comparison between COV-ICU and ARDS: IL-1β, P = 0.65, adjusted P = 0.84; IL-1RA, P = 0.92, adjusted P = 0.99; IL-6, P = 0.51, adjusted P = 0.79; IL-8, P = 0.60, adjusted P = 0.83; IL-18, P = 0.095, adjusted P = 0.32; TNF-α, P = 0.069, adjusted P = 0.31. P values for comparison between COV-ICU and sepsis: IL-1β, P = 0.36, adjusted P = 0.79; IL-1RA, P = 0.11, adjusted P = 0.32; IL-6, P = 0.45, adjusted P = 0.79; IL-8, P = 0.93, adjusted P = 0.99; IL-18, P = 0.0043, adjusted P = 0.078; TNF-α, P = 1, adjusted P = 1.