Figure 5

Sex-related analysis of serum cytokine and chemokine levels in individuals infected with E. histolytica or E. dispar . The sera were from 34 patients with amebic liver abscess (ALA), 41 asymptomatic E. histolytica carriers (AC), and 24 individuals infected with the apathogenic E. dispar. Differences between males and females in the serum levels of IL-4, IL-10, IL-6, IL-1β, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2), and CCL3 in ALA patients, AC and E. dispar-infected subjects are shown (A–F). ALA: male n = 27, female n = 7; AC: male n = 16, female n = 25; E. dispar: male n = 5, female n = 19. Statistics: Mann–Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction was used when comparing more than two groups; Mann–Whitney U test was used when comparing only two groups (*p < 0.05 and **p < 0.005).