FIG. 1.

S. epidermidis-induced IFN-γ production in whole blood. Whole blood was stimulated with S. epidermidis (10:1 ratio of organisms to leukocytes) in the absence or in the presence of various concentrations of IL-18BP (A) or with fixed amounts of IL-18BP (125 ng/ml), IL-1Ra (10 μg/ml), TNFbp (10 μg/ml), or anti-IL-12 Ab (2.5 μg/ml) (aIL-12) (B). After 48 h the culture was assayed for IFN-γ. The amount of IFN-γ induced by S. epidermidis was set at 100% for each donor and the percent change (mean ± SEM) for each condition is shown. A 100% S. epidermidis stimulation represents 11.1 ± 2.5 ng of IFN-γ/ml. ∗, P < 0.05 versus S. epidermidis alone (n = 7 donors).