IL6 and pneumococcal infection: Consistent with leukocyte infiltration, pneumococcal infection was also associated with a significant increase in the expression of IL-6, TNF-α, CXCL1, IL-10, and IL-1β when these data were combined for both genders in both groups and was significantly higher in the F1 ZIP8KO-microbiota group when compared to F1 WT-microbiota animals (p ≤ 0.002; Figure 7A–E) There were gender specific differences but in all cases with similar trends.