qPCR and Western blot analyses of selected cytokines such as IL-6, IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, and IL-10 in a murine model of AOM with NTHi in a C56BL/6 background mouse e.g. [48] exhibit similar kinetics and degrees of up-regulation to those observed in this DNA microarray data set, providing validation of the array results. This evidence concerns the gene IL6 and infectious otitis media.