Chemokines in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with sarcoidosis.

We measured the levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids from 27 patients with active pulmonary sarcoidosis and examined the relationship between chemokine levels and some clinical manifestations. The levels of two chemokines were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. There were significant positive correlations between the absolute number of lymphocytes and MCP-1 levels. The level of MCP-1 was significantly higher in the group with age at onset of over 50 year than that in the group with age at onset under 30 year. There were no significant differences between the non-smokers and smokers, or among the groups of patients classed according to stages. We conclude that MCP-1 can play an important role in the pathogenesis and clinical course of pulmonary sarcoidosis, although further analysis is needed to delineate the exact role of IL-8.