TNF-α and IL-6
Serum concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6 were determined using the Meso Scale Proinflammatory 2 Plex (Mesoscale Discovery, MD, USA). The detection limits were 0.04 and 0.06 ng/L for TNF-α and IL-6, respectively, with a measurement range from 0.10 to 1.75 ng/L and 0.16 to 27.2 ng/L for TNF-α and IL-6, respectively. The intra-assay coefficients of variation for the low and high concentrations were 10.1% and 6.1% for TNF-α and 4.5% and 3.6% for IL-6. The inter-assay coefficients of variation for the low and high concentrations were 6.2% and 7.2% for TNF-α and 7.3% and 5.2% for IL-6.