3.3 Cytokine levels under different stimulations in asthmatic
preschoolers
No significant differences could be observed for baseline cytokine
levels between healthy and asthmatic subjects, as displayed in Online
Supplementary figure S-Fig. 1.
Asthmatic children showed high numbers of cytokines increased in
response to various stimuli compared to healthy subjects (Fig. 2A).
Particularly, R848 and poly I:C were the stimulants that induced IL-10,
IL-13, IL-25, IFNγ, CCL4 and CXCL10, while stimulation with PHA and zymo
induced IFNα2 and CCL4, respectively.
In contrast, only IL-7 and IFNλ-2 were found to be lower in asthmatic in
comparison to healthy subjects after stimulation with PHA and poly I:C
(Fig. 2B). Cytokines that showed no significant difference between the
two groups after polyclonal stimulation are found in Online
Supplementary (S-Fig. 2 - S-Fig. 5).