Nod2 mediates the activation of cytokines in response to B. burgdorferi.

BMDM from wild type (B6) and Nod2 deficient mice were stimulated with B. burgdorferi at the designated MOIs for 6 hours. Cytokine levels in supernatants were measures by ELISA; bars represent mean percent change ± s.e.m. of three independent experiments. Values for wild type (B6) cells for each experiment were normalized to 100% and other values are shown relative to B6. Because of the normalization, the s.e.m. for B6 is zero and no error bars are visible, * p<0.05. Raw data for each of the conditions showed that wild type cells secreted a mean of 6.34, 3.51 and 1.8 ng/ml of TNF-α at MOIs of 100, 10 and 1 respectively, while Nod2 deficient cells secreted a mean of 3.52, 2.35 and 1.3 ng/ml at the same MOIs. For IL-6, wild type cells secreted 1.6 ng/ml of IL-6 for MOI 1, while Nod2 deficient cells secreted a mean of 0.58 ng/ml for IL-6 for MOI 1.