Expression and biology of neutrophil and endothelial cell-derived chemokines

The elicitation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes or neutrophils to an area of tissue injury is one of the most fundamental of all cell responses during the initiation of host defense. Historically, the neutrophil has been identified as an important phagocytic cell with a limited capacity to synthesize de-novo proteins. However, recent investigations have now shown that stimulated neutrophils can express a variety of cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-1, interferon-alpha and interleukin-8. The ability of neutrophils and endothelial cells to produce interleukin-8 is extremely important, as this chemokine can contribute to the continued maintenance of cell infiltrates into the developing inflammatory lesion.