Patients with alcoholic hepatitis often have hepatic polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration and neutrophilia. Interleukin-8 is a cytokine that stimulates neutrophil chemotaxis and release of lysosomal enzymes. It is made by several types of cells, including fibroblasts, Kupffer cells and hepatocytes. In this study, serial plasma interleukin-8 concentrations were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 40 consecutive patients with moderate-to-severe alco- holic hepatitis over a 6-mo period. Two control groups included 10 patients without clinically important liver disease admitted for treatment of alcohol dependence and 12 healthy male volunteers. The mean plasma interleukin-8 level on admission was markedly increased 695 2 146 pg/ml in the alcoholic hepatitis patients. The alcohol-dependent control group and the normal volunteer controls had mean interleukin-8 concentrations of 106 * 28 pg/ml and 10 f 5 pg/ml, respectively. Initially increased interleukin-8 levels in alcoholic hepatitis patients decreased to a mean of 182 f 42 pg/ml over the first month; levels had decreased further to 124 f 79 pg/ml after 6 mo. Increased interleukin-8 concentrations in patients with alcoholic hepatitis suggest a role for interleukin-8 in the neutrophilia and hepatic polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration of alcoholic hepatitis. (HEPATOLOGY 1993; 18: 576-580.)
Neutrophilia and hepatic polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration are frequent manifestations of alcoholic hepatitis (AH) (1). The pathogenesis of these manifestations is not well defined. Increasing evidence implicates cytokines in the liver injury and clinical manifestations of alcoholic liver disease (2-8). The cytokine interleukin-8 (IL-8), also known as neutrophil chemotactic factor, produces several neutrophil effects, including neutrophilia, neutrophil chemotaxis and neutrophil activation with release of lysosomal enzymes (9,