In another study of patients with dust mite allergy, patients with asthma had higher neutrophil counts and IL-8 levels in the sputum than those without asthma both at baseline and 24 h after bronchial allergen challenge; however, the sputum eosinophil count and eosinophil cationic protein levels of the two groups were indistinguishable (15). Here, CXCL8 is linked to asthma.