3.5. Elevated Secondary Bile Acids Are Correlated with Immunoregulatory Cytokine Levels in Plasma
SECONDARY
Given the potential significance of changes in secondary bile acid metabolism for systemic immunity, we hypothesized that secondary bile acid metabolism might be associated with changes in immune mediators in our study participants. The study design included the measurement of plasma cytokine levels in a portion of the blood drawn at 6 weeks post-partum. Notably, these were the same blood samples used to measure plasma metabolites for our other analyses. The following cytokines were measured in plasma via ELISA in all study participants: interferon-