LPS-induced TNF-α secretion in the presence of severe sepsis sera, control sera, LBP-depleted severe sepsis sera, and rhLBP-supplemented sera.

Monocytic TNF-α secretion in the presence of different sera preincubated with LPS. (A) LPS-induced TNF-α secretion in the presence of 15% sera from patients with severe sepsis and from healthy controls. (B) LPS-induced TNF-α secretion in the presence of 15% control sera and control sera supplemented with 100 μg/mL rhLBP, resulting in LBP concentrations comparable to those found in severe sepsis. Data of panels A and B are presented as 25th (box), 50th (median), and 75th percentiles (box) and range (-). Statistical analysis was performed with the Mann-Whitney U test; *P < .05. (C) Monocytes were stimulated with 10 ng/mL LPS preincubated in the presence of sera of healthy controls supplemented with increasing amounts of rhLBP. LPS-induced TNF-α concentration in the presence of nonsupplemented serum of the healthy volunteers was set as 100%. Presented is the mean ± SEM of 6 independent experiments. (D) Monocytes were stimulated with 10 ng/mL LPS preincubated with native severe sepsis sera, LBP-depleted severe sepsis sera, and LBP-depleted severe sepsis sera supplemented with increasing concentrations of rhLBP starting with 1μg/mL. Each experiment was performed in duplicate employing 6 different randomly chosen severe sepsis sera. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis was performed with the Wilcoxon test; *P < .05.