Slight Pro-Inflammatory Immunomodulation Properties of Dendritic Cells by Gardnerella vaginalis: The “Invisible Man” of Bacterial Vaginosis?

Figure 7

Modulation of PHA-induced cytokine secretion after exposure to a range of G. vaginalis concentrations. (a) TNF-α secretion (). (b) IL-12p70 secretion (). (c) IFN-γ secretion (). (d) IL-17a secretion (). (e) IL-10 secretion (). Compared to the PHA-stimulated control cells, a significant and dose-dependent increase in cytokine secretion was observed for IL-17a and IFN-γ with the G. vaginalis-treated cells. Other cytokines showed no significant increase in secretion. Data are means (+ SD). PBMC: PBMCs cultured for 72 h without any effector; PHA control: PBMCs only exposed to PHA (2 µg/mL) for 72 h; G. vaginalis: PBMCs exposed for 72 h to PHA (2 µg/mL) in the presence of 10³ to 10⁷ CFU/mL of G. vaginalis. Friedman’s test with Nemenyi’s comparison (). A, B, and C: means with different superscript letters are significantly different from each other.

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