Fig. 3

Networks of immune-related biomarkers in mild malaria, hyperbilirubinaemia and severe malaria groups. Plasma levels of several immune-related (cytokines and chemokines) biomarkers were measured in subjects with mild malaria, hyperbilirubinaemia, and severe malaria. Each connecting line represents a significant interaction (p < 0.05) detected by Spearman’s correlation test (a). Grey lines represent positive significant interactions and green lines represent negative significant correlations. Icons are colored according to their expression in the heat map shown in Fig. 2a. The five immune-related biomarkers with the highest number of interactions in all three groups were chosen (IFN-γ, TNF, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-12p70) and the relative number of interactions of these biomarkers was calculated for each group (b). Dark grey rectangles represent the highest relative number of connections, light dark rectangles represent the medium relative number of connections, and white rectangles represent the lowest relative number of connections between molecules (b)