title: Evaluation of urinary interleukin-8 levels in patients with spinal cord injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Interleukins are a group of cytokines responsible for regulating inflammatory and infectious responses. Interleukin-8 plays an important role in chemotaxis and functioning of leukocytes and is locally produced in infected tissues; it is seen in abundance in the urine of individuals with Urinary Tract Infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  Midstream sterile urine sampling was performed in different patients admitted to the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) research center. The samples were tested to determine the level of IL-8 through the ELISA method. The commercial kit used for this study was an R & D kit built in Germany.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean level of IL-8 was 369.59 pg/ml and 75.42 pg/ml in male and female patients respectively. Among the 97 patients under study, 87 (89.7%) were IL-8 positive (>10 pg/ml) and 10 patients were IL-8 negative (<10 pg/ml). Among the 87 IL-8 positive subjects, 64 patients had no UTI symptoms, while 23 did.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SCI patients should have their urinary IL-8 levels measured on a routine and periodic basis, irrespective of their SCI severity or the presence or absence of UTI symptoms. The timely and effective diagnosis & treatment of UTI can prevent the irreversible complications caused by frequent UTI and resistance to treatment in this group of patients.
authors.affiliation: School of allied Medical Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. rrahimkhani@sina.tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Monireh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahimkhani
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mordadi
authors.forename: Sajad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Varmazyar
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavakoli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058345:Asymptomatic Infections; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000652:urine*; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000652:urine*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C508606:CXCL8 protein, human; D016209:Interleukin-8