INTERLEUKIN-8 AND CHEMOTACTIC ACTIVITY OF MIDDLE-EAR EFFUSIONS

The importance of interleukin (IL)-8 in the chemotactic activity of mi ddle ear effusions (MEEs) was evaluated. There was a significantly hig her IL-8 concentration in MEEs of children with acute otitis media (AO M) (n = 17; 136 ng/mL) than in children with otitis media with effusio n (OME) (n = 28; 65 ng/mL), The IL-8 concentration in MEEs with bacter ia (149 ng/mL) was significantly higher than in MEEs without bacteria (66 ng/mL), MEEs from children with AOM and OME had equally higher che motactic activity than the diluent alone (23.3% and 24.8% vs, 9.2%). T he chemotactic activity was not altered by the presence of bacteria no r did it correlate with IL-8 concentration Fractionation of MEEs by ge l chromatography demonstrated that the main chemotactic activity could clearly be separated from the IL-8 activity, thus excluding IL-8 as a main chemotactic component in MEEs.