Interleukin(IL)-8 is a potent chemotactic factor for neutrophils which was induced by tumor necrosis factor-a and IL-1. Serum IL-8 level was known to be associated with the poor prognosis of tuberculosis and IL-8 mRNA was increased in the tissue of erythema nodosum leprosum.

Our purpose was to investigate whether the serum IL-8 levels of leprosy patients are different from those of controls and whether the severity of the leprosy is associated with the serum IL-8 level.

Twenty eight patients with leprosy and fourteen healthy adults were used in this study. Serum IL-8 levels were detected by enzyme immunoassay.

There were no statistically significant differences in the serum IL-8 levels between the twenty eight leprosy patients and the fourteen healthy control serums (29.99±53.14 vs 2.52±7.53) nor was the detection rate between the groups (9/28 vs 1/14) significant. There were also no statistically significant differences between the serum IL-8 concentrations of the patients with high bacterial indexes and the patients with low bacterial indexes (30.22±63.64 vs 29.73±41.14).

Serum levels and the detection rate of IL-8 in the leprosy patients were not different from the control group and the severity of the disease was not associated with the IL-8 levels.