Quartz Dust Exposure Affects NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation and Plasma Levels of IL-18 and IL-1Ra in Iron Foundry Workers

Table 4

Descriptive statistics of cytokine, mRNA, and caspase-1 data.

Sampling		Mean	Median	Min	Max
Cytokines		Plasma concentration (pg/ml)
IL-1β	85	0.032	0.027	0.001	0.107
IL-18	85	482	439	219	1328
IL-1Ra	85	271	193	82	1490
IL-18BP	85	2348	2162	932	5954
mRNA expression		Normalized expression, arbitrary unit
IL1Β	84	0.07	0.06	0.02	0.15
IL18	84	1.40	1.29	0.77	2.74
IL1RN	84	0.74	0.64	0.15	2.52
IL18BP	84	0.96	0.93	0.19	1.88
NLRP3	84	0.56	0.53	0.15	1.42
PYCARD	84	8.38	8.26	2.74	18.31
CASP1	84	0.94	0.89	0.52	1.71
IL6	84	0.004	0.004	0.001	0.010
Caspase-1 enzymatic activity in monocytes		% of unstimulated control
Unstimulated		100	100	100	100
LPS	75	147	149	109	191
Pam3CSK4	75	151	153	115	184
ATP	35	120	119	61	241
LPS+ATP	35	159	157	89	250