Gastrointestinal barrier failure can lead to translocation of Gram-negative bacteria and bacterial wall products, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), into circulation to initiate the proinflammatory cascade observed in NEC [14,15], including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) [16,17], interleukin-6 (IL-6) [18,19], and interleukin-8 (IL-8) [15,20,21]. Here, CXCL8 is linked to necrotizing enterocolitis.