Figure 1

a Age-related frequencies of mDCs and pDCs producing IL-27. Age-based simple moving mean was applied as a trend indicator (see Additional file 4: Figure S4) to identify age-related differences in the capacity to produce IL-27 during childhood. Individual percentage of IL-27-positive mDCs were based on the CD14⁻HLADR⁺CD123⁻CD11c⁺ population for mDCs and CD14⁻HLADR⁺CD123⁺CD11c⁻ for pDCs (n = 41). b Age-related concentrations of IL-27 in plasma of peripheral blood. From a sub-set of subjects plasma was collected to test the concentration of IL-27. Levels of IL-27 in children less than 1 year of age were slightly higher as in adults, but considerably lower than IL-27 concentrations in the age groups between >1 and <18 years of age, with a maximum at about 6–12 years of age. (n > 5; except: 0–1 years, n = 12).