A total of 794 serum samples were randomly selected to detect cytokines. A total of 27 cytokines were measured using the Bio-Plex Pro Human Cytokine 27-plex assay (Bio-Rad, M500KCAF0Y)22 (link) and Luminex 200 platform (Luminex Corporation, Austin, TX, USA). The assays included a series of known concentrations to generate standard curves constructed by Bio-Plex Manager 6.0 (Bio-Rad Laboratories). For samples with values below the assay’s lower limit of detection, values equal to half of the lower limit of detection were used.23 (link)