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Fig. 5 | BMC Microbiology

Fig. 5

From: Liver and blood cytokine microenvironment in HCV patients is associated to liver fibrosis score: a proinflammatory cytokine ensemble orchestrated by TNF and tuned by IL-10

Fig. 5

“Cytokine Networks” in HCV patients according to the fibrosis score. Customized biomarker network layouts were built to identify the relevant association between proinflammatory IL-6, TNF, IL-2 and IFN-γ cytokines (black circles), modulatory IL-10 axis (light gray circle) and additional IL-4 and IL-17 axes (dark gray circles), using a clustered distribution of nodes. Significant Spearmam’s correlations at P < 0.05 were represented by connecting edges to highlight positive [strong (r ≥ 0.68; thick continuous line) or moderate (0.36 ≥ r ≤ 0.67; thin continuous line)] and negative [strong (r ≤ −0.68; thick dashed line) or moderate (−0.36 ≥ r ≤ −0.67; thin dashed line)] as proposed by Taylor [18]. The overall statistic analysis of the network node neighborhood connections point out for an almost linear-chain pattern in the NI groups with a clear shift towards a more imbricate profile in HCV patients. A persistent IL17/IL-4 loop was observed in all HCV subgroups with differential neighborhood connections for the IL-10 node in HCV patients according to the fibrosis score

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BMC Microbiology

ISSN: 1471-2180

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