AimTo study the relationship between plasma level of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and the polymorphism of IL-8 single nucleotide with the susceptibility to coronary heart disease (CHD).MethodsPolymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to detect genotype of IL-8 －251A/T in CHD cases and control subjects.Plasma levels of IL-8 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.ResultsCompared with that of control subjects, plasma levels of IL-8 of CHD cases were significantly increased (p<0.05).The overall distribution of IL-8 －251A/T genotype and allelotype in CHD patients and controls were not significantly different (p>0.05).However, a statistically significant lower frequency of AA genotypes was observed in acute coronary syndrome patients compared to other patients (OR=0.43, 95%CI was 0.2～0.97, P=0.04).ConclusionsThe results suggest that plasma level of IL-8 may co-relate with the susceptibility of CHD, －251A/T single nucleotide polymorphism is not associated with the susceptibility of CHD, but the genetic diversity may influence the clinical manifestation of CHD.The AA genotype may reduce the risk of acute coronary syndrome.