INCREASED LEVELS OF CIRCULATING INTERLEUKIN-8 IN PATIENTS WITH LARGE BURNS - RELATION TO BURN SIZE AND SEPSIS

Large burns are followed by significant trauma-induced immunomodulatio n, and activated neutrophils can be demonstrated in the circulation of burn patients shortly after injury. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a recentl y described molecule with neutrophil activating properties and in the present study we have measured the concentration of this cytokine in p lasma from 27 patients with large burns during hospitalization using a n enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The mean patient plasma c oncentration of IL-8 at admission was about 60 times higher than that of healthy controls. Furthermore, patients with total body surface are a burn of more than 40% had significantly higher IL-8 concentrations i n plasma than patients with smaller burns. For patients without seriou s infectious complications, the IL-8 concentration fell gradually afte r injury, whereas in patients with complicating sepsis a second peak o f IL-8 was demonstrated. Thus, the increased IL-8 concentrations seem to be related to burn size and to have a role in the pathophysiology o f sepsis in patients with large burns. The large amounts of circulatin g IL-8 following thermal injury may contribute to the strong and susta ined activation of neutrophils reported earlier in patients with large burns.