CXCL8 and infection: In order to develop a more physiological in vitro macrophage system for the study of interactions between the host and T. marneffei, we first characterized the innate immune responses of human and murine macrophages against T. marneffei live conidia by determining the mRNA expressions of the tumor necrosis factor gene (TNF) and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 8 gene (CXCL8, also known as interleukin 8 gene [IL8]) during the early phase of infection.