Abul H, Abul A, Khan I, Mathew T C, Ayed A, Al-Athary E
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University Health Sciences Center, Safat.
Mol Cell Biochem. 2001 Jan;217(1-2):107-12. doi: 10.1023/a:1007264411006.
Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is considered as the major polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) chemoattractant cytokine in lung diseases such as asthma and adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). However, controversial results were obtained regarding the involvement of IL-8 in the pathogenesis of pneumonia. This study examines the role of IL-8 in the recruitment and activation of PMNs in the lung of pneumonia patients. The interesting aspect of this study is that it is a site- specific analysis of the infected and uninfected lungs of the same patient. The level of IL-8 mRNA, protein and myeloperoxidase present in the cells of the bronchioalveolar lavages (BALs) taken from the areas of known pneumonic consolidations on chest X-ray (infected lung) are compared with the BALs obtained from areas of no obvious infiltrate (non-infected lung). The results obtained from the infected and non-infected lungs of pneumonic patients were further compared with that of a control group of non-smoking patients. The level of IL-8 mRNA and protein were determined by RT-PCR and ELISA respectively. There was a significant increase in the level of IL-8 mRNA in the infected lung as compared to its level in the non-infected lung (p < 0.001). In correlation with the increase in mRNA, IL-8 protein concentrations in BAL fluids from the infected lung were 6 fold higher than those taken from the non-infected lung (p < 0.0001). This pattern was also consistent with MPO activity in the BALs (4.5 fold more MPO activity in the infected lung as compared to that of the non-infected lung), indicating that IL-8 is directly implicated in neutrophil accumulation that follows acute respiratory infection. The results of the present study, therefore, indicate the involvement of IL-8 in the pathogenesis of pneumonia.
白细胞介素-8（IL-8）被认为是哮喘和成人呼吸窘迫综合征（ARDS）等肺部疾病中主要的多形核中性粒细胞（PMN）趋化因子细胞因子。然而，关于IL-8在肺炎发病机制中的作用，研究结果存在争议。本研究探讨IL-8在肺炎患者肺部PMN募集和激活中的作用。该研究有趣的一点是，它是对同一患者感染和未感染肺部的位点特异性分析。将胸部X线显示已知肺炎实变区域（感染肺）的支气管肺泡灌洗（BAL）细胞中存在的IL-8 mRNA、蛋白质和髓过氧化物酶水平，与无明显浸润区域（未感染肺）获得的BAL进行比较。肺炎患者感染和未感染肺部的结果，进一步与非吸烟患者对照组的结果进行比较。分别通过RT-PCR和ELISA测定IL-8 mRNA和蛋白质水平。与未感染肺相比，感染肺中IL-8 mRNA水平显著升高（p < 0.001）。与mRNA增加相关，感染肺BAL液中IL-8蛋白浓度比未感染肺高6倍（p < 0.0001）。这种模式也与BAL中的MPO活性一致（感染肺中的MPO活性比未感染肺高4.5倍），表明IL-8直接参与急性呼吸道感染后的中性粒细胞积聚。因此，本研究结果表明IL-8参与了肺炎的发病机制。
