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Notes: Background  Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a T-cell-mediated inflammatory disease. Interleukin (IL)-8 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine of host response to injury and inflammation.Objectives  To investigate whether serum IL-8 level was a more sensitive marker than serum IL-6 level in monitoring the disease activity of OLP and to assess whether IL-8 was a useful serum marker in evaluating the therapeutic effects of levamisole on OLP patients.Methods  In this study, we used a solid phase, two-site sequential chemiluminescent immunometric assay to determine the baseline serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in 158 patients with OLP, nine patients with traumatic ulcers (TU) and 54 normal control subjects. Some OLP patients with the serum IL-6 or IL-8 levels higher than the upper limit of normal serum concentration were treated with levamisole for 0·5–6·0 months and their serum IL-6 and IL-8 levels were measured after treatment.Results  We found that 28% (44 of 158) OLP, 28% (40 of 142) erosive OLP (EOLP), and 25% (four of 16) nonerosive OLP (NEOLP) patients had a serum IL-6 level greater than the upper normal limit of 4·7 pg mL−1. In contrast, 63% (99 of 158) OLP, 63% (90 of 142) EOLP and 56% (nine of 16) NEOLP patients had a serum IL-8 level greater than the upper normal limit of 8·7 pg mL−1. In some OLP patients with the serum IL-6 or IL-8 levels higher than the upper limit of normal serum concentration, treatment with levamisole for a period of 0·5–6·0 months could significantly reduce the mean serum IL-6 level from 14·3 ± 1·9 pg mL−1 to 3·2 ± 0·6 pg mL−1 (P 〈 0·001) and could significantly reduce the mean serum IL-8 level from 95·8 ± 17·1 pg mL−1 to 14·8 ± 5·8 pg mL−1 (P 〈 0·001).Conclusions  Because measurement of the serum IL-8 level can detect more OLP patients with an abnormal serum level than measurement of the serum IL-6 level (63% vs. 28%), we conclude that serum IL-8 level is a more sensitive marker than serum IL-6 level in monitoring the disease activity of OLP. Levamisole can modulate both the serum IL-6 and IL-8 levels in OLP patients. IL-8, like IL-6, is also a useful serum marker in evaluating the therapeutic effects of levamisole on OLP patients.