In an infant rat model of pneumococcal meningitis a serotype 3 strain (P21) is often used to induce the disease [18] and here we have shown that in vitro, following antibiotic lysis, which would release the pneumolysin, liposome treatment greatly reduced CXCL8 levels from the epithelial cells (Fig. 3). This evidence concerns the gene CXCL8 and pneumococcal meningitis.