Interactions between T lymphocytes, neutrophils, and epidermal cells are believed to play a central role in the pathophysiology of psoriasis and other inflammatory cutaneous disorders. Although there is strong evidence that lymphocyte-function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) positive T cells are retained in the epidermis via intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression induced on keratinocytes, the molecular basis for the directed migration of T cells or neutrophils towards the epidermis is not known. To investigate whether epidermal keratinocyte-derived products may be important in the migration of T cells and neutrophils into the epidermis, human keratinocytes were cultured in the presence of various cytokines and chemotactic activity of the supernatants were assessed. TNF-alpha stimulation produced directed migrational responses for both neutrophils and T-lymphocytes (both CD4 and CD8), but not B lymphocytes; 69% of T-cell movement and 80% of neutrophil migration induced by the TNF-alpha treated keratinocyte cell supernatants could be inhibited by anti-interleukin-8 (IL-8) serum. Using the same antibody, IL-8 was immunoprecipitated from the supernatants of TNF-stimulated 35S-labelled keratinocytes, and a single 7-kd band product detected by SDS-PAGE. In keeping with these biological activities and protein data, Northern blot analysis of total cellular RNA extracted from keratinocyte monolayers hybridized with a 32P-labelled 1-kb cDNA to IL-8 mRNA, revealed induction of the IL-8 gene in the presence of TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta, but not IFN-gamma. The protein kinase C agonist, 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), a known stimulator of psoriasiform cutaneous inflammation when applied directly to murine epidermis, strongly induced keratinocyte elaboration of IL-8 mRNA. These studies demonstrate that activated human keratinocytes are capable of producing biologically active IL-8, and provide evidence that keratinocytes can play a key role in mediating the influx of T cells and neutrophils into the epidermis.