The Role of T Helper 17 (Th17) and Regulatory T Cells (Treg) in the Pathogenesis of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis among HIV-Infected Women

Table 5

Comparisons of cervicovaginal secretions’ mean levels (in pg/ml) of cytokine distribution across the study groups.

		Study group
		HIV− and VVC− mean ± SEM<	HIV− and VVC+ mean ± SEM	HIV+ and VVC− mean ± SEM	HIV+ and VVC+ mean ± SEM	ANOVA p value
Cytokine types	Cytokine limit of detection (pg/mL)
Proinflammatory
G-CSF	1.7	3.82 ± 1.3	14.075 ± 3.42	0.85 ± 0.00	21.894 ± 5.62	0.002
GM-CSF	2.2	42.24 ± 2.55	57.81 ± 3.59	42.34 ± 0.001	57.98 ± 5.34	0.007
IFN-γ	6.4	7.148 ± 3.63	29.206 ± 8.62	3.91 ± 0.001	55.62 ± 20.035	0.037
IL-2	1.6	0.8 ± 0.00	4.795 ± 1.81	0.80 ± 0.00	6.77 ± 2.12	0.022
IL-8	1	26.486 ± 8.156	494.55 ± 148.95	10.84 ± 0.001	320.67 ± 97.65	0.004
TNF-α	6	13.106 ± 6.48	44.079 ± 10.04	14.07 ± 0.001	56.32 ± 11.09	0.003
MCP-1	1.1	2.35 ± 0.34	8.03 ± 2.23	2.32 ± 0.001	13.21 ± 4.27	0.037
IL-1β	0.6	127.61 ± 59.79	1975.77 ± 779.89	143.11 ± 0.001	2181.43 ± 803.23	0.001^∗∗
IL-7	1.1	0.55 ± 0.00	0.963 ± 0.31	0.57 ± 0.00	1.076 ± 0.3	0.012
MIP-1β	2.4	8.86 ± 2.39	12.23 ± 3.43	8.13 ± 0.001	16.67 ± 3.95	0.235
IL-12	3.5	1.916 ± 0.58	3.127 ± 0.71	1.75 ± 0.00	4.15 ± 0.82	0.001
IL-17	3.3	5.799 ± 2.27	19.003 ± 4.34	1.95 ± 0.001	20.53 ± 4.33	0.002
IL-6	2.6	1.911 ± 0.548	5.582 ± 1.35	1.38 ± 0.001	11.583 ± 3.74	0.017
Anti-inflammatory
IL-4	0.7	0.59 ± 0.18	2.062 ± 0.44	0.62 ± 0.001	2.27 ± 0.46	0.003
IL-5	0.6	0.257 ± 0.09	0.394 ± 0.057	0.30 ± 0.00	0.524 ± 0.08	0.004
IL-13	0.7	0.83 ± 0.22	1.56 ± 0.22	0.47 ± 0.001	1.78 ± 0.26	<0.0001
TGF-β1	1.7	4.72 ± 1.92	4.16 ± 1.6	6.88 ± 0.001	1.588 ± 1.09	0.0024^∗∗
TGF-β2	14.7	13.034 ± 1.16	11.96 ± 1.21	8.39 ± 0.001	12.52 ± 2.09	0.012^∗∗
TGF-β3	2.8	2.51 ± 0.44	8.56 ± 6.003	1.42 ± 0.001	2.32 ± 0.25	0.001^∗∗
IL-10	0.3	0.902 ± 0.078	0.978 ± 0.09	0.9 ± 0.001	1.249 ± 0.17	0.135

SEM: standard error of the mean (in pg/ml). VVC+: presence of vulvovaginal candidiasis infection; VVC−: absence of vulvovaginal candidiasis infection; HIV: human immunodeficiency virus; IL = interleukin; MIP = macrophage inflammatory protein; TGF: transforming growth factor; IFN = interferon; G-CSF = granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; GM-CSF = granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Kruskal–Wallis nonparametric tests.