Objective: To investigate the effect of chemokine 8(CXCL8) on the development of atherosclerosis (AS) in mice and its possible mechanism. Methods: 40 male Apo E-/- mice were randomly divided into AS group and G31P group, 20 mice in each group, meanwhile 20 male C57BL/6J mice was assigned into the control group. AS group mice were fed with high fat diet for 12 weeks, G31P group mice were were fed with high fat diet for 12 weeks and subcutaneous injection at the same time of G31P (The injection volume is 500 μg/kg), The control group mice were fed with regular diet for 12 weeks. Then ELISA method was used to measure serum triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), total cholesterol (TC) level. Real- time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to measure CXCL8mRNA and MMP9mRNA expression in aorta tissue. Western- blot methods was performed to test the protein expression levels of CXCL8 and MMP9 in aorta tissue. Results: After 12 weeks high-fat diet feeding, the levels of TG, LDL-C and TC in serum of AS group were higher than those in the G31P group, while the HDL-C level was lower than that in the G31P group (P<0.05). The levels of TG, LDL-C and TC in the serum of G31P group were higher than control group, HDL-C level was lower than the control group (P<0.05). The expression levels of CXCL8mRNA, MMP9mRNA, CXCL8 protein and MMP9 protein in aortic tissue of AS group were higher than those in G31P group (P<0.05), and the expression levels of CXCL8mRNA, MMP9mRNA, CXCL8 protein and MMP9 protein in aortic tissue of G31P group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: CXCL8 has high expression in the aortic tissues of as mice, it may be involved in the development of as by affecting the expression of MMP9, inhibiting the expression of CXCL8 or delaying the development of AS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]