TABLE 3.

In vitro cytokine-inducing capacities of SMEZ, SPEA, and heat-killed group A streptococci in human PBMC

Cytokine or chemokine	No. of expts	Inductiona (mean ± SEM) by:
		RPMI	SMEZ (100 ng/ml)	SPEA (1 μg/ml)	Streptococci (107 CFU/ml)
Cytokines (pg/ml)
Pro- and anti-inflammatory
IL-1α	4	30 ± 6	1,497 ± 852	1,230 ± 674	2,100 ± 638
IL-6	4	328 ± 163	3,695 ± 1,577	3,744 ± 1,298	5,900 ± 1,320
TNF-α	8	530 ± 198	8,445 ± 1,920	8,190 ± 2,351	12,832 ± 528
IL-12 p40	6	8 ± 4	278 ± 79	214 ± 55	1,651 ± 13*
IL-12 p70b	3	3 ± 0.3	21 ± 4	25 ± 10	802 ± 79*
IL-10	5	70 ± 32	7,482 ± 2,270	6,804 ± 2,109	2,526 ± 500
Transforming growth factor β	3	647 ± 288	1,102 ± 253	1,038 ± 275	905 ± 99
Th1 derived
TNF-β	3	15 ± 4	761 ± 189	872 ± 243	25 ± 4.6*
IFN-γ	6	4 ± 3	3,552 ± 698	2,428 ± 329	4,460 ± 76*
IL-2	9	116 ± 16	3,321 ± 586	2,720 ± 541	253 ± 73*
Th2 derived
IL-4	3	7 ± 3	31 ± 3	47 ± 15	7 ± 3*
IL-5	10	20 ± 6	1,213 ± 146	1,075 ± 190	18 ± 5*
IL-13	3	ND	61 ± 17	47 ± 13	ND
Hematopoietic
IL-3	7	ND	383 ± 65	231 ± 65	22 ± 22*
Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor	4	12 ± 8	1,034 ± 150	1,021 ± 144	420 ± 358
Chemokines (ng/ml)
IL-8	4	50 ± 20	198 ± 40	156 ± 42	330 ± 63
RANTESc	4	4.2 ± 2	45 ± 23	35 ± 11	51 ± 22
MIP-1α	3	0.7 ± 0.3	401 ± 6.9	31 ± 8.2	29.8 ± 3.8

^aIncubation time, 72 h unless noted otherwise. ND, not detectable; * P < 0.05 between superantigens and heat-killed streptococci. 

^bIncubation time, 24 h. 

^cIncubation time, 48 h.