Table 4 Post hoc sequence analysis of mediators (cytokines and chemokines) in BAL fluid

Mediators BAL [pg/ml]

UFP _{mean (allergen-saline)}

Filtered air (FA) _{mean (allergen-saline)}

Treatment effect (UFP-FA)

95%-confidence interval

p-value

IL-6

−3.0

55.0

−58.0

−102.8; −13.1

0.019

MCP-1

38.0

210.0

−171.9

−303.3; −40.6

0.019

TNF-α

0.2

2.1

−1.9

−2.8; −1.0

0.002

Eotaxin

2.3

10.7

−8.4

−18.9; 2.1

0.097

IL10

0.9

7.2

−6.4

−14.3; 1.6

0.099

CD40L

2.4

2.3

0.2

−5.8; 6.1

0.948

GM-CSF

5.5

6.1

−0.6

−5.5; 4.3

0.779

IFN-γ

−0.5

0.1

−0.6

−2.5; 1.4

0.527

IL-13

8.8

67.1

−58.3

−137.5; 20.9

0.122

IL-17

0.1

0.3

−0.2

−0.8; 0.4

0.477

IL-2

1.1

1.00

0.1

−3.0; 3.2

0.928

IL-4

1.3

13.0

−11.8

−30.9; 7.4

0.184

IL-5

128.6

73.3

55.4

−313.1; 423.8

0.726

IL-7

−2.0

−0.4

−1.6

−19.0; 15.7

0.827

IL-8

20.9

48.0

−27.1

−96.1; 42.0

0.375

IL-1β

−0.1

1.0

−1.1

−2.9; 0.7

0.174

IL12p70

−0.3

0.01

−0.3

−1.0; 0.4

0.356

Mediators BAL [pg/ml]

Filtered air (FA) _{mean (allergen-saline)}

UFP _{mean (allergen-saline)}

Treatment effect (UFP-FA)

95%-confidence interval

p-value

IL-6

12.3

30.5

18.2

−19.4; 55.9

0.250

MCP-1

27.4

113.5

86.1

−98.7; 270.9

0.265

TNF-α

0.2

1.3

1.1

−1.4; 3.5

0.289

Eotaxin

0.6

5.7

5. 2

−4.6; 14.9

0.216

IL10

0.9

8.5

7.7

−5.4; 20.8

0.179

CD40L

0.0

0.1

0.1

−0.2; 0.5

0.374

GM-CSF

2.4

2.5

0.1

−1.7; 1.9

0.910

IFN-γ

−0.3

0.4

0.6

−0.5; 1.7

0.181

IL-13

3.0

63.5

60.4

−46.7; 167.6

0.192

IL-17

0.0

1.2

1.2

−1.1; 3.4

0.237

IL-2

1.1

4.3

3.1

−9.9; 16.2

0.540

IL-4

0.0

7.8

7.8

−5.5; 21.0

0.178

IL-5

29.0

75.2

46.2

−39.1; 131.4

0.208

IL-7

−1.0

−0.8

0.3

−7.2; 7.8

0.928

IL-8

13.1

21.5

8.4

−28.9; 45.8

0.565

IL-1β

−0.1

0.1

0.1

−0.2; 0.5

0.374

IL12p70

−0.5

−0.6

−0.1

−1.1; 0.9

0.803