Figure 3

Production of cytokines and growth factors in early vaccinated versus late vaccinated infants. The levels of 6 cytokines (sIL-2Rα, IL-1α, IFN-α2, IL-5, IL-13, IL-10) and two growth factors (IL-3 and IL-7) were significantly higher with more than 9-fold difference in the infants who were given BCG between 3 and 11 weeks of life (vaccinated late) compared with those vaccinated within one week of birth (vaccinated early). The concentrations of IFN-γ and TNF-α were also higher in late vaccinated infants but the fold differences in median responses were moderate compared with the above 6 cytokines and 2 growth factors. The median levels of each cytokine are indicated in red. The data from late vaccinated Malawian infants were obtained from the previous study [18] (*P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001, Mann Whitney test).