ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the literature reporting the association of interleukin-8 (IL-8) with a wide variety of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. It discusses the various experiments that have evaluated the role of IL-8 in the pathogenesis of inflammation by using neutralizing monoclonal antibodies to IL-8 or IL-8 receptor gene knockout and IL-8 transgenic mice in various models of inflammation. IL-8 has been identified in a wide range of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. The average IL-8 concentration in epithelial lining fluid of patients with cystic fibrosis was 182 ng/ml compared with no detectable IL-8 in normal subjects. In patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, the average IL-8 concentration found in edema fluid and bronchoalveolar lavage was shown to be elevated when compared to that found in normal patients. IL-8 appears to play a critical role in neutrophil recruitment following this oxidant-related injury, suggesting it may also be important in other oxidant-related injuries.
