ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the relation between the pathogenesis and IL-8 level in the chronic hepatic disease and primary hepatocellular carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>5ml venous blood was with drawn from 80 hospitaliged patients with different types of hepatic diseases and 14 healthy people. The serum was separated from the blood and then kept at -40 degrees Centigrade, and finally detected for IL-8 by ELISA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was an obvious difference among the IL-8 level in the serum from different types of hepatic disease patients. The IL-8 level was 75.80 microg/L 33.39 microg/L in chronic virus hepatitis and it was 89.54 microg/L 13.24 microg/L for primary hepatoma patients (t=10.48 and 4.01, respectively, P<0.01, as compared with control group).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There is a close relation between the level of IL-8 in serum and the state of illness. For patients with chronic hepatic diseases and primary hepatocellular carcinoma, the higher the IL-8 level is, the more serious the patients' condition, the worse the prognosis, and the higher the death rate would be.</p>