Objective: To measure the serum levels of neutrophils chemokine granulocyte chemotactic protein-2 (GCP-2) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and compare them with serum levels of growth-related oncogene (GRO-alpha).

Methods: Forty-two patients with inflammatory bowel disease (24 CD and 18 UC) and 38 matched healthy subjects were recruited. Their serum GCP-2, IL-8 and GRO-alpha were measured by a specific enzyme immunoassay kit.

Results: The serum levels of GCP-2 were significantly higher in the CD than the UC patients but lower than in the healthy subjects. The GCP-2 in the UC patients were significantly lower than in the healthy subjects. The GRO-alpha levels were significantly higher in the IBD patients than in the healthy subjects. The IL-8 levels were under the detectable limit in both the IBD and the healthy subjects.

Conclusions: In this group of patients, GCP-2 did not participate in the inflammatory response in IBD. GRO-alpha could be an important factor that enhances the inflammatory state in IBD.