My IL-8 is 1822 (avg 1-15). Does that mean I'm going to explode?

[Thinktank]

@Jonathan Edwards, i find CRP and ESR to be quite unreliable, at least in my case.

I've been diagnosed with many inflammatory syndromes and diseases, pretty much all of my organs are affected. In the past 3 years i have done extensive bloodtesting including CBC, HsCRP and ESR monthly.
CRP has always been <0.2 and ESR <2. The pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-8, IL-6, IL12 etc.) + PGE2 measured in serum however have always been elevated, more so during periods of severe inflammation. My conclusion is that pro-inflammatory Cytokines in serum reflect my state of inflammation better than any other marker measured so far.

The same goes for my girlfriend who suffers from SLE / vasculitis. During her last severe flare ESR was 15 and CRP <2, both within "normal" range according to her rheumatologist. The pro-inflammatory cytokines however were elevated, including IL-8. The cytokines have pretty much returned to normal range with treatment, CRP has stayed about the same.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

@Jonathan Edwards, i find CRP and ESR to be quite unreliable, at least in my case.

I've been diagnosed with many inflammatory syndromes and diseases, pretty much all of my organs are affected. In the past 3 years i have done extensive bloodtesting including CBC, HsCRP and ESR monthly.
CRP has always been <0.2 and ESR <2. The pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-8, IL-6, IL12 etc.) + PGE2 measured in serum however have always been elevated, more so during periods of severe inflammation. My conclusion is that pro-inflammatory Cytokines in serum reflect my state of inflammation better than any other marker measured so far.

The same goes for my girlfriend who suffers from SLE / vasculitis. During her last severe flare ESR was 15 and CRP <2, both within "normal" range according to her rheumatologist. The pro-inflammatory cytokines however were elevated, including IL-8. The cytokines have pretty much returned to normal range with treatment, CRP has stayed about the same.

The problem with IL-8 as far as I cn see from the literature is that you cannot really say it is 'elevated' because values range so hugely anyway. I have a suspicion that labs are using 'upper limits' that do not reflect reality. If IL-6 is up then CRP should be up because CRP is the liver's response to IL-6. Again I wonder about lab reference ranges.

There are certainly forms of inflammation that do not involve cytokines -typically in lupus. But then I doubt IL-8 would be relevant either. I may be out of date but not so long ago nobody was using IL-8 to assess inflammation in rheumatic disease in academic units.

 

[Valentijn]

The problem with IL-8 as far as I cn see from the literature is that you cannot really say it is 'elevated' because values range so hugely anyway. I have a suspicion that labs are using 'upper limits' that do not reflect reality.

Average in adults seems to be around 1.5 (0.7 - 3.0) ng/L in adults [1]. The lab I have results from RED Laboratories in Belgium gives a reference range of 0.00 - 15.00. So that seems quite reasonable. My pre-treatment IL-8 level was given as 727.

[1] www.clinchem.org/content/52/3/504.full.pdf