Table 3 The whole set of the 49 experiments carried out. Runs 1–16 included all possible combinations of all cytokines together (see text above). In runs 17–24 individual cytokine were added to the medium, two concentrations of each cytokine was tested. For example in run 17 MCSF was added to the medium at concentration 1 (100 U/ml), while in run 18 the same cytokine was added at concentration 2 (300 U/ml). Runs 25 – 48 included the different possible interactions between each 2 cytokines, for example in run 25 both MCSF (100 U/ml) and IL-3 (10 ng/ml) were added, in run 26 MCSF (100 U/ml) and IL-3 (50 ng/ml) were added, in run 27 MCSF (300 U/ml) and IL-3 (10 ng/ml) were added, and in run 28 MCSF (300 U/ml) and IL-3 (50 ng/ml) were added. Experimental run 49 was carried out without adding any cytokines to the medium. All experimental runs were done in triplicate and repeated three times.

From: Evaluation of the Taguchi methods for the simultaneous assessment of the effects of multiple variables in the tumour microenvironment