Chemical makeover inhibits IL-8 On page 2085, Proost et al. find that altering a single arginine turns an inflammatory chemokine docile. The chemokine IL-8, which activates and recruits neutrophils, is secreted as a mixture of isoforms that vary in length due to proteolysis. A cut after the first five amino end residues produces active protein, whereas cuts elsewhere inhibit activity. Proteolys...

Interleukin-8 (IL-8), a monocyte-derived neutrophil chemotactic agent, has a potential role in the regulation of inflammatory responses. The specific receptor for IL-8 has been identified and characterized on the surface of human neutrophils (Samanta, A. K., Oppenheim, J. J., and Matsushima, K. (1989) J. Exp. Med. 169, 1185-1189). The present study demonstrates that at least two sulfhydryl grou...