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Updated: Aug 11, 2026
Intravenous Endotoxin Challenge in Healthy Humans: An Experimental Platform to Investigate and Modulate Systemic Inflammation
Published on: May 16, 2016
Effects of endotoxin on serum chemokines in man
S Schinkel1, C Schinkel, V Pollard
1Department of Surgery, Evangelisches Krankenhaus, Witten, Germany. sschinkel@dwr.de
Aim:
Endotoxin is known to be a primary initiator of sepsis and septic shock. Migration of immunocompetent cells due to chemotactic attraction plays a central role in the initiation of the immune response. Two major groups of chemokines can be distinguished: C-x-C chemokines like Interleukin-8 attract mainly neutrophils, C-C chemokines (e.g. RANTES) attract monocytes and T-cells. The aim of this study was to get further insight into chemokine profiles after a single endotoxin bolus in man.
Materials And Methods:
We investigated the effect of systemically administered endotoxin (4ng/kg BW i.v.) in 8 healthy volunteers. Clinical data (heart rate, mean arterial pressure, temperature), serum levels of IL-8, and RANTES, as well as white blood cell count were obtained before and hourly for five hours after endotoxin administration.
Results:
Heart rate and MAP showed significant changes (p<0.05) after 2-3 hours. All volunteers presented with low-grade fever after 2 hours. WBC was elevated 43% and 63% after 4 and 5 hours, respectively. Both chemokines were significantly different from baseline two hours after endotoxin challenge: While IL-8 was significantly increased RANTES serum levels were diminished.
Conclusion:
From our data we conclude that this endotoxin model was effective to mimic the clinical appearance of sepsis. Chemokines like IL-8 and RANTES are integrated in the early immune response to endotoxin challenge in man.
