title: Interleukin-8 serum concentrations after liver transplantation.
abstract: The study's objective was to investigate serum levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) after liver transplantation and to correlate these findings with tumor necrosis factor alpha serum levels and various clinical parameters. This was a prospective observation study conducted at the University Hospital of Innsbruck with 19 patients studied after orthotopic liver transplantation. Serum levels of IL-8 were analyzed by a solid-phase double ligand ELISA method. Serum TNF-alpha concentrations were measured by means of a commercially available radio immunoassay (IRE-Medgenix, Fleurus, Belgium). Three patients with an uneventful recovery after transplantation showed IL-8 levels below the detection limit. IL-8 serum levels markedly increased in patients with acute graft rejection, bacterial infection, and CMV disease. Increments of serum IL-8 preceded clinical complications in all patients. Highest levels were observed in bacterial infection, lowest in acute rejection. A statistically significant positive correlation was demonstrated between IL-8 and TNF-alpha serum levels in the context of bacterial infection and CMV disease. Elevated IL-8 serum levels represent a feature of alloimmune and infectious complications following liver transplantation. IL-8 can thus be considered a further indicator molecule in the heterogenous group of acute-phase reactants that accompany various inflammatory responses and do not permit the underlying clinical complication to be specified.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Innsbruck University Hospital, Austria.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tilg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ceska
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herold
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Margreiter
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000209:etiology; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000097:blood*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D016209:Interleukin-8; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha