Cytokine production in response to schistosomal products in PBMC cultures.

<p>PBMCs were stimulated with schistosomal egg antigen (SEA) or adult worm antigen (AWA). White and grey boxes correspond to <i>S. haematobium</i>-free and infected children respectively with the whiskers indicating minimal and maximal concentrations. * <i>p</i><0.05; ** <i>p</i><0.01. <b>Panel A</b>: Cytokine production did not differ between groups at 24 h (mainly innate response) but the adaptive IL-10 response after 72 h of incubation to both schistosomal products was significantly higher in infected children than in <i>S. haematobium</i>-free children. Furthermore, only infected children produced a significant innate TNF-α response to schistosomal products at 24 h. These plots are not adjusted for spontaneous cytokine production. <b>Panel B</b>: After 24 h (predominantly innate), most cytokine ratios induced by schistosomal products were more anti-inflammatory than the ratios induced by medium alone. When the adaptive response had developed after 72 h however, only infected children produced significant anti-inflammatory cytokine balances while pro-inflammatory indices were lower in infected children than in uninfected children (AWA; <i>p</i><0.05).