Table 3 Mean cytokine/chemokine concentration (pg/mL) ± standard error in Aged (65 + years of age) and Young (18–49 years of age) individuals. PBMCs were incubated with either media (control), LPS, polyanhydride nanoparticles (NP), pentablock copolymer micelles (Mi), PMA/ionomycin (PMA), or cyclic dinucleotides (CDN) to test the effects of vaccine adjuvants on cytokine/chemokine production. Significant effects of Treatment (Trt) Age, or Trt × Age interaction from generalized linear model (GLM) analysis are shown. * p ≤ 0.05, †p > 0.05 but showing distinct trend. Dashed lines signify no effect of Trt, Age, or significant interaction in cytokine/chemokine level. For treatments that reached statistical significance, post-hoc results are shown

CD40L

22.93

 ± 7.39

17.59

 ± 6.64

49.1

 ± 34.28

42.23

 ± 29.49

64.87

 ± 46.26

21.05

 ± 10.62

17.62

 ± 8.46

17.53

 ± 7.46

22.55

 ± 11.36

19.25

 ± 8.85

44.55

 ± 14.04

16.28

 ± 5.1

--

EGF

22.79

 ± 6.17

21.95

 ± 7.06

28.88

 ± 4.85

24.53

 ± 7.88

24.47

 ± 8.03

22.27

 ± 10.45

24.71

 ± 2.95

28.55

 ± 3.43

27.6

 ± 2.77

24.64

 ± 4.07

28.48

 ± 3.94

26.29

 ± 1.94

--

CCL11

6.45

 ± 1.73

8.84

 ± 2.94

11.75

 ± 2.07

7.24

 ± 1.61

10.55

 ± 1.34

8.6

 ± 1.4

14.12

 ± 2.55

13.92

 ± 2.83

16.91

 ± 2.06

12.91

 ± 2.74

16.15

 ± 2.91

16.68

 ± 0.88

Age *

Flt3L

0

 ± 0

0.61

 ± 0.61

0

 ± 0

0.53

 ± 0.53

0.7

 ± 0.7

0

 ± 0

1.44

 ± 0.66

1.71

 ± 0.64

1.78

 ± 0.76

1.34

 ± 0.73

2.64

 ± 0.87

1.84

 ± 0.63

--

CX3CL1

22.93

 ± 7.39

15.68

 ± 0.74

30.57

 ± 11.96

16.01

 ± 3.07

22.82

 ± 5.73

15.95

 ± 5.65

15.96

 ± 2.33

24.38

 ± 4.16

20.92

 ± 3.76

20.72

 ± 5.58

34.07

 ± 5.93

19.29

 ± 4.3

--

IL-1Ra

10.17

 ± 8.59

13.01

 ± 11.52

25.63

 ± 20.75

4.96

 ± 3.27

8.29

 ± 5.06

8.29

 ± 5.94

122.79

 ± 56.27

172.77

 ± 71.95

88.98

 ± 42.1

95.1

 ± 38.41

62.09

 ± 22.09

104.37

 ± 35.73

--

IL-3

0.79

 ± 0.07

0.68

 ± 0.08

1.02

 ± 0.22

0.91

 ± 0.2

4.23

 ± 3.21

0.85

 ± 0.07

0.82

 ± 0.09

0.75

 ± 0.09

0.95

 ± 0.08

0.95

 ± 0.13

64.77

 ± 29.53

0.77

 ± 0.11

Trt *

PMA > media

IL-8

476.55

 ± 438.1

1203.36

 ± 1069.23

1273.92

 ± 1255.38

203.16

 ± 175.43

770.29

 ± 651.71

313.76

 ± 269.14

4851.7

 ± 1632.21

3884.75

 ± 1208.16

3363.05

 ± 1097.72

3675.12

 ± 1244.26

3570.11

 ± 1166.03

4063.73

 ± 1311.12

Age *

CCL2

605.93

 ± 533.43

53.46

 ± 39.91

420.6

 ± 401.74

207.93

 ± 166.66

105.99

 ± 89.67

321.89

 ± 244.61

2833.08

 ± 880.65

1013.49

 ± 537.84

2091.94

 ± 904.24

2612.05

 ± 823.35

1796.08

 ± 735.31

2688.71

 ± 855.83

Age *

CCL7

47.78

 ± 41.39

1.74

 ± 1.14

4.4

 ± 3.41

21.91

 ± 18.35

33.12

 ± 30.27

36.77

 ± 29.4

1364.98

 ± 738.76

21.28

 ± 8.61

23.72

 ± 10.64

558.32

 ± 228.69

243.31

 ± 84.6

822.96

 ± 402.48

Age *

CCL22

19.52

 ± 3.57

24.33

 ± 11.13

11.41

 ± 5

17.51

 ± 4.07

37.03

 ± 15.05

12.88

 ± 3.55

250.16

 ± 107.1

152.63

 ± 47.81

20.48

 ± 5.34

191.65

 ± 76.4

214.41

 ± 86.02

271

 ± 130.35

Age *

PGDF

66

 ± 23.08

54.95

 ± 20.49

72.23

 ± 37.4

76.5

 ± 29.64

106.56

 ± 49.73

67.24

 ± 32.34

57.42

 ± 15.05

54.97

 ± 14.11

39.6

 ± 12.84

59.69

 ± 16.75

81.13

 ± 21.61

53.02

 ± 10.13

--

CCL5

5039.57

 ± 1003.87

6921.69

 ± 2813.84

4102.32

 ± 2079.83

5491.54

 ± 1862.46

6944

 ± 2721.11

4209.14

 ± 1729.56

5474.51

 ± 1262.09

5160.44

 ± 594.57

2165.86

 ± 782.96

5156.84

 ± 1328.17

5769.67

 ± 725.3

3331.47

 ± 719.67

Trt *

NP<,media

TGF-α

0.78

 ± 0.02

0.78

 ± 0.06

0.79

 ± 0.09

0.74

 ± 0.05

0.73

 ± 0.04

0.81

 ± 0.07

1.07

 ± 0.18

1.72

 ± 0.38

0.93

 ± 0.09

3.13

 ± 2.26

0.92

 ± 0.06

0.99

 ± 0.14

--

TNF-β

0.08

 ± 0.08

0.24

 ± 0.1

0.2

 ± 0.15

0.14

 ± 0.09

0.99

 ± 0.73

0.27

 ± 0.14

0.54

 ± 0.19

0.59

 ± 0.16

0.82

 ± 0.27

0.56

 ± 0.2

7.13

 ± 2.36

0.62

 ± 0.17

--

VEGF

7.77

 ± 6.8

12.23

 ± 5.53

16.38

 ± 9.52

7.24

 ± 6.28

22.75

 ± 8.28

4.44

 ± 2.31

29.76

 ± 9.77

44.37

 ± 11.36

40.34

 ± 13.08

32.14

 ± 11.02

43.55

 ± 5.13

28.78

 ± 9.11

Age†