Cytokine Measurement
IL-17A was measured from serum using the Human IL-17A ELISA Development Kit from MabTech AB (Nacka Strand, Sweden). IL-26 was measured from serum using the Human IL-26 ELISA kit from Cusabio Technology LLC (Houston, TX, USA). Both ELISAs were performed following the manufacturer’s protocol. Undetectable values of either cytokine are expressed by convention as one half of the lower limit of the standard curve throughout this study.