Abstract
IL-8 acts as a chemotactic and stimulating factor for neutrophils, T-lymphocytes and basophils. Thus, IL-8 plays an important role in inflammation. Most uremic patients treated with hemodialysis (HD) suffer such aseptic inflammatory complications as hypotension, fever and pruritus during HD sessions. The release of cytokines by inflammatory cells during HD may be involved in aseptic inflammation. Plasma IL-8 levels and the expression of IL-8 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were studied at the start and the end of HD with seven kinds of dialyzers in uremic patients undergoing maintenance HD. Plasma IL-8 levels in patients after HD sessions with TFα-1300H (RC), BK-1.3P (PMMA), KF201-1200 (EVAL) or Polyflux 130 (PA) dialyzers were significantly higher than before HD. In contrast, plasma IL-8 levels did not change after HD with PAN-13DX (PAN), PS-1.3UW (PS), or FB-130F (CTA). The increases in the expression of IL-8 mRNA in PBMCs after HD with each of the dialyzers were consistent with the increases in their plasma IL-8 levels. In addition, incubation of IL-8 with each of the membranes demonstrated that IL-8 is absorbed only by PAN. The present study demonstrates that IL-8 is useful as a new index for the biocompatibility of dialyzers.
