Abstract: Objective To study the expression of IL-8 in serum and its mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)of patients with cirrhosis.Methods The typical patients with cirrhosis after HBV infection were selected and their serum IL-8 concentrations were evaluated with ELISA,the expression of IL-8 mRNA in PBMC was measured by real-time PCR.Results The levels of IL-8 and its mRNA in peripheral blood of patients were(431.39±97.39)pg/ml,1.1125±0.2024),respectively,which were significantly higher than those of control group(P<0.01).The levels of IL-8 and its mRNA in peripheral blood of patients with positive of HBV-DNA were higher than those in patients with negative of HBV -DNA(P<0.01,P<0.05),and which also significantly increased in patients with high level of ALT,AST,compared with control group(P<0.05,P<0.01).Conclusion The levels of IL-8 and the IL-8 mRNA in peripheral blood of patients with cirrhosis increase,which are associated with the degree of HBV-DNA replication and the damage of hepato cytes.IL-8 plays a key role in the progression of posthepatitic cirr hosis.