Figure 3.

Inhibition of S1-Fc-induced cytokine responses by budesonide and MAPK inhibitors. Rested PBMC were cultured with or without 2.0 µg/mL of S1-Fc from Vendor #2 in the presence or absence of budesonide, U0126 (MEK1/2 inhibitor, Erk1/2i), SP600125 (JNK1/2 inhibitor, JNK1/2i) or SB203580 (p38 inhibitor, p38i) for 24 h. The levels of IL-6, TNFα and IL-8 were measured as described in Figure 2. Data shown are mean cytokine induction indices (fold) ± SE derived from 8 healthy donors, which were calculated using cytokine concentrations measured by the CBA assay (IL-6 and TNFα) or the ELISA (IL-8) and the formula: cytokine concentration of treated PBMC/cytokine concentration of untreated PBMC. Statistical analyses were performed using a two-tailed, Student’s t-test. * and ** depict p < 0.05 and 0.01, respectively.