Effects of estradiol and progesterone on the proinflammatory cytokine production by mononuclear cells from patients with chronic hepatitis C

Figure 1 Effects of E2 and progesterone on spontaneous production of TNF-α (A), IL-1β (B), IL-8 (C), and MCP-1 (D) by unstimulated PBMCs from age-matched older male and post-menopausal female patients with chronic hepatitis C. The unstimulated PBMCs from the age-matched older male (black square) and post-menopausal female (black circle) patients with chronic hepatitis C were cultured for another 6 h with and without E2 (10^-10-10^-7 mol/L) (solid) or progesterone (10^-10-10^-7 mol/L) (open). The spontaneous production levels of TNF-α (A), IL-1β (B), IL-8 (C), and MCP-1 (D) in the culture supernatant were detected by means of an ELISA. The results were expressed as the percentages of each initial value for the cytokine production in the absence of the female sex hormones. The values are the mean ± SD (n = 18). ^aP < 0.05 in comparison to the 6-h-cultures in the absence of the female sex hormones.