CXCL8 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Bhowmik et al. and Bucchioni et al. also reported an increased expression in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and lungs of IL-6 and IL-8 in COPD patients, mediating recruitment of neutrophils, T-cells, and macrophages to the lungs which leads to lung tissue damage, and contributes to the elastase and protease imbalance that promotes loss of epithelium causing lung emphysema [62,69].