To assess the ability of BbV to activate human neutrophils and stimulate pro-inflammatory cytokine release such as IL-6 and IL-8, the cells were incubated with noncytotoxic concentrations of BbV or RPMI (control) for 4 h at 37 C in a humid atmosphere of 5% CO2. As shown in Fig. 4A, all concentrations from 6.2 up to 100 mg/mL of BbV induced a significant release of IL-6 by human neutrophils compared to control. Fig. 4B shows that after 4 h incubation of neutrophils with concentrations from 12.5 up to 100 mg/mL of BbV induced a significant release of IL-8 by human neutrophils. Our results demonstrate that BbV activated human neutrophils and induced the release of IL-6 and IL-8.