Implications for the assay and biological activity of interleukin-8: Results of a WHO international collaborative study

Eight ampouled preparations of interleukin-8 (IL-8) have been evaluated for their suitability to serve as an international standard for IL-8 by 30 laboratories in 12 countries in an international collaborative study. The preparations were assayed in a wide range of in vitro bioassays and immunoassays. It is clear from the study that different recombinant preparations of IL-8 can have different biological specific activities, even though all were produced using E. coli. It:is of interest that the intra-laboratory variability of estimates provided by several neutrophil degranulation bioassays was less than that of the immunoassays, suggesting that these bioassays can be as precise, if not more so, than immunoassays. In addition, immunoassay estimates of IL-8 preparations differed from those of bioassays, illustrating the fact that immunoassays do not necessarily measure biologically active cytokine. The large reduction in the inter-laboratory variability of estimates in terms of a common reference preparation clearly illustrates the need for a standard for IL-8. On the basis of the results reported here, with the agreement of the participants of the study and with the authorisation of the Expert Committee on Biological Standardization (ECBS) of the World Health Organization (WHO) the preparation of IL-8 (89/520) was established as the International Standard for IL-8 with an assigned unitage of 1000 IU/ampoule.