Human whole blood was treated with the negative control (NC, cell culture medium), the positive control (PC, 20 ng/mL of the LPS), or test agents (Taxol®, Cremophor-EL, or Abraxane®) at equivalent paclitaxel concentration of 25 μM. The amounts of IL-8 mRNA (A) and IL-8 protein (B) were measured in the same specimens; each bar represents mean response and standard deviation from ten donors (N=10). The level of IL-8 protein in supernatants 2 h (C) and 20 h (D) after treatment with Cremophor 25 μM and the PC. Each bar shown the mean response (N=2, %CV < 20) for each of 3 tested individual donors.