Figure 5

TLR-induced cytokine responses in foetal leukocytes are influenced by maternal age. CBMC (2 million/ml) were stimulated with synthetic Hz (5 μg/ml), LPS (100 ng/ml), CpG-A (3 μg/ml) or PolyI:C (20 μg/ml). After 18 hours, supernatants were collected and analysed for IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IFN-α, TNF-α and MIP-1α/CCL3 levels. Cytokine levels in unstimulated cells were subtracted from the values shown. P-values were calculated by Mann-Whitney U test or t test (see Subjects, Materials and Methods). The significance limit was P < 0.05. Data represent median values and percentiles for 57 individuals; 33 mothers ≤ 25 years of age (white bars) and 24 women > 25 years (diagonal striped bars) (Data on maternal age were missing for 2 subjects, that were therefore not included in this analysis).