Random effect meta-analysis of 6 studies [29, 30, 125, 126, 140, 156] demonstrated that encephalitis patients (n = 341) had higher CSF IL-8 concentration compared to control group (n = 126) for IL-8 (SMD, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.17–1.90; P < 0.05). The gene discussed is CXCL8; the disease is viral encephalitis.