Figure 2
Cytokine and chemokine levels in nasal mucosal lining fluid (MLF). (a) Geometric mean 2–8 h time-weighted average (GMTWA2–8h) fold change from baseline in cytokine or chemokine levels in response to NAC. Error bars represent 90% CI, but are not shown in d for clarity. Asterisks signify allergen responses (placebo pretreatment before NAC) with P<0.05. Double daggers signify dose-responsive effects (versus placebo) of prednisone pretreatment with P<0.05 for all comparisons. (b) Dot plot of IL-13 versus IL-5 fold changes from baseline under each treatment. Pearson’s correlations appear in each panel. Solid lines represent least-squares regression lines. (c) Time courses of IL-13 production in individual participants. “R” refers to an IL-13 responder. (d) Time courses of geometric mean cytokine levels in IL-13 responders (left panels) and non-responders (right panels). N=18 subjects (one subject yielded insufficient nasal lining fluid for full analysis). For all panels, blue, orange, and red symbols signify placebo, 10 mg prednisone, and 25 mg prednisone pretreatment, respectively. BL, baseline; CI, confidence interval; FC, fold change; GMTWA, geometric mean time-weighted average; IL, interleukin, NAC, nasal allergen challenge.
