Experimental set-up for comparative monocyte proteome profiling. Monocytes were treated with or without dexamethasone (2.5 × 10−7M) for 36 hours. After this priming period, we added 500 μg/mL Hp (control cells) or 500 μg/mL Hb:Hp (1:1 molar ratio) for another 18 hours. At the end of each experiment, we observed a clearly visible difference in the appearance of cell pellets, with cells that were primed with glucocorticoid before exposure to Hb:Hp appearing more red-brown in color. Cells were then lysed, the nuclei removed by centrifugation, and the remaining cellular proteome processed for LC-MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis. Results of the comparative proteome analyses are shown in Figures 2 and 3, as indicated.