Fig. 3

Cytokine responses in PBMC at delivery according to malaria histories during pregnancy. The frequencies of IFN-γ-secreting T cells and cytokine production in PBMC at delivery in response to PHA and to recombinant protein DBL-5 are shown. The three groups of women were defined based on their exposure to P. falciparum infection during pregnancy: (i) those who remained uninfected throughout (white box plot), (ii) those who had had at least one infection during pregnancy but who were not infected at delivery (grey box plot), and (iii) who were infected at delivery but who had varying histories of infection during pregnancy (black-hatched box plot). Except for IFN-γ and IL-13 production in response to DBL-5, all box plots illustrate medians with 25th and 75th percentiles and whiskers for 10th and 90th percentiles. The box plots for IFN-γ and IL-13 production in response to DBL-5 show the mean with SEM (standard error of the mean). The statistical significance of differences between groups was determined using the non-parametric Kruskall Wallis test, p < 0.05