Directly after collection, blood and BAL samples were added to an equal volume (100 μL/tube) to IMDM (Iscove’s Modified Dulbecco’s Media, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) with or without 200 ng/mL of Escherichia coli LPS (E. coli K12 LPS, Invivogen, San Diego, CA, USA), then incubated for 4 h at 37 °C and 5% CO2 [23 (link)]. Samples drawn to measure the intracellular cytokine synthesis of TNF-α were incubated with a Golgi inhibitor (GolgiStop™ 2 μM, Becton Dickinson, San Jose, CA, USA) for 4 h at 37 °C and 5% CO2.
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