Figure 2

I. scapularis saliva inhibits TLR-mediated cytokine secretion by macrophages. BMDMs (8×10⁵) from C57BL/6 mice were stimulated with LPS (500 ng/ml), Pam3CSK4 (1 μg/ml), Zymosan (10 μg/ml) and PG- LPS (500 ng/ml) for 18 hours in the presence or absence of tick saliva (1:500 dilution). Tick saliva was added 2 hours before stimulation. (A) IL-6 and (B) IL-12p40 were measured by ELISA. Responses were measured in triplicate and presented as mean ± SEM within the representative experiment. Experiments were repeated three times. *P < .05, Student’s t test. (−) non-stimulated cells. NS – not significant.