Impaired Cytokine Responses to Epstein-Barr Virus Antigens in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients

Table 5

values for comparison of cytokine concentrations in SLE patients and HCs®.

Cytokine	All SLE and corresponding HCs ()	SLE with normal lymphocyte levels and corresponding HCs ()	SLE with lymphopenia and corresponding HCs ()
EBNA1 stimulation
IL2	1.000	1.000	1.000
IL12	<0.0001	0.009	0.002
IFNγ	<0.0001	<0.0001	0.0005
IL18	0.095	0.762	0.233
IL4	0.002	0.118	0.005
IL5	0.038	0.232	0.092
TNFα	0.0004	0.083	0.0005
TNFβ	0.0006	0.103	0.001
IL6	0.002	0.027	0.037
IL17	0.0001	0.003	0.014
IL1β	0.083	0.310	0.059
TGFβ	0.008	0.188	0.027
IL10	0.008	0.169	0.012
GM-CSF	0.0002	0.05	0.003
EBV-EA/D stimulation
IL2	0.500	0.500	1.000
IL12	0.361	0.639	0.480
IFNγ	0.0001	0.005	0.001
IL18	0.023 (SLE↑)	0.510	0.007 (SLE↑)
IL4	0.038	0.443	0.045
IL5	0.083	0.191	0.262
TNFα	0.035	0.510	0.016
TNFβ	0.053	0.010	0.969
IL6	0.0006	0.033	0.001
IL17	0.044	0.191	0.129
IL1β	0.021	0.020	0.133
TGFβ	0.0774	0.847	0.0210
IL10	0.0012	0.107	0.0015
GM-CSF	0.0006	0.018	0.0068

SLE: systemic lupus erythematosus; HCs: healthy controls; IL: interleukin; IFN: interferon; TNF: tumor necrosis factor; GM-CSF: granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor; EBNA: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen; EBV-EA/D: Epstein-Barr virus early antigen diffuse.
®Significant differences between SLE patients and HCs in cytokine measurements correspond to highest values in HCs unless otherwise stated.
All cytokine responses were compared using the Wilcoxon matched-pairs test, except for IL1β responses, which were compared using the Chi-squared test.