Evaluation of urinary interleukin-8 levels in patients with spinal cord injury.

Background: Interleukins are a group of cytokines responsible for regulating inflammatory and infectious responses. Interleukin-8 plays an important role in chemotaxis and functioning of leukocytes and is locally produced in infected tissues; it is seen in abundance in the urine of individuals with Urinary Tract Infection.

Material & Methods: Midstream sterile urine sampling was performed in different patients admitted to the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) research center. The samples were tested to determine the level of IL-8 through the ELISA method. The commercial kit used for this study was an R & D kit built in Germany.

Results: The mean level of IL-8 was 369.59 pg/ml and 75.42 pg/ml in male and female patients respectively. Among the 97 patients under study, 87 (89.7%) were IL-8 positive (>10 pg/ml) and 10 patients were IL-8 negative (<10 pg/ml). Among the 87 IL-8 positive subjects, 64 patients had no UTI symptoms, while 23 did.

Conclusion: SCI patients should have their urinary IL-8 levels measured on a routine and periodic basis, irrespective of their SCI severity or the presence or absence of UTI symptoms. The timely and effective diagnosis & treatment of UTI can prevent the irreversible complications caused by frequent UTI and resistance to treatment in this group of patients.