Figure 2

Cytokines released from monocytes stimulated with various concentrations of native (A) or polymerized (B) form of AAT. Each point represents the mean ± SD of six separate experiments. Significantly high up-regulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-6) was found when cells were treated with low doses (0.05 and 0.1 mg/ml) of native or polymerized AAT, respectively, compared to control treated with equivalent amounts of buffer alone. The buffer control levels are indicated on the graphs (TNFα in blue and IL-6 in red).