Figure 2

Cytokine signatures separating illness groups in male subjects. Immune cytokine expression patterns separating of male GWI, CFS and healthy control subjects identified using a step-wise selection method across all time points (rest, peak activity, and recovery). Red arrows indicate a negative contribution, vice versa for black arrows. Arrow line thickness is proportional to the magnitude of standardized canonical coefficients. NK cell promoters (IL-12 or 15) are observed in both illnesses, as are IL-10 and 23. Stronger IL-2 expression was characteristic of CFS while stronger IL-13 contribution was indicative of GWI (Table 2 and Additional file 2: Table S5).