CXC chemokines are thought to play an important role at sites of inflammation. Because ELR⁺ CXC chemokines are expressed in different types of tonsillitis we investigated the role of the surface/crypt epithelium of human tonsils  in  producing  ELR⁺  CXC  chemokines:  interleukin  (IL)-8  (CXCL8), ENA-78 (CXCL5), GRO-α (CXCL1) and GCP-2 (CXCL6). Tonsillar tissue was obtained from patients undergoing tonsillectomy and chemokine expression was investigated by means of immunohistochemistry. A549 cells were used as a model to study kinetics of chemokine expression in epithelial cells. Cells were stimulated with tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and supernatants derived from aerobic/anaerobic Staphylococcus aureus strains. Chemokine expression was measured by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We observed epithelial expression of IL-8, GRO-α and GCP-2 in different types of tonsillitis, whereas ENA-78 was rarely expressed. In A549 cells abundant expression of ENA-78 was detected. IL-8 and GCP-2 are expressed in an acute type of tonsillitis whereas GRO-α was frequently detectable both in chronically and acutely inflamed tonsils. ENA-78 does not seem to play a pivotal role in tonsillitis in vivo.