Researchers from the National University of Singapore have published a study in the journal Infection and Immunity reporting that Blastocystis antigens produce statistically significant increases in expression of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1Beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha in mouse intestinal explants. Serine proteases produced by Blastocystis were found to play a significant role in ERK and cytokine expression in the murine cells. The text of the study is available from Infection and Immunity.