CXCL8 and acute respiratory distress syndrome: During ALI, neutrophils are recruited in the alveolar compartment and increased CXCL8 levels in the BAL fluid of patients with ALI have been positively correlated with the presence of activated neutrophils (Aggarwal et al., 2000; Kurdowska et al., 2001; Keane et al., 2002; Puneet et al., 2005).