Objectve To measure the serum levels of human IL-32 and explore the clincal implication in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease( COPD) at acute exacerbation or stable stage. Methods 120 patients with COPD were recruited, including 60 patients with acute exacerbation COPD and 60 patients with stable COPD from October 2010 to May 2011. Thirty healthy nonsmoking volunteers were included as controls. The concentrations of interleukin-8 ( IL-8) , tumor necrosis factor alpha ( TNF-α) , and IL-32 in serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA) . The correlations among IL-32, IL-8, TNF-αand lung functions were investigated. The datas were analyzed using a statistical software package ( SPSS13. 0) . Variables were compared with one-way ANOVA . The correlations between variables were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient or Spearman correlation coefficient. Results SerumIL-32 level was significantly higher in AECOPD patients [ ( 174. 56 ±88. 15) ng/L] than that in healthy subjects [ ( 59. 41 ±20. 98) ng/L] and in stable COPD patients [ ( 89. 40 ±33. 84) ng/L]( P lt;0. 05) while serum IL-32 level was also significantly higher in stable COPD patients than in healthy subjects( P lt;0. 05) . The serumIL-32 1evel in patients with acute exacerbation COPD and stable COPD was positively correlated with the serumIL-8 level, TNF-αlevel ( respectively P lt;0. 01) . The serumIL-32 level was negatively correlated with FEV1 /predicted value, FEV1 /FVC and PaO2 ( respectively, P lt;0. 01) . There was no statistical significance of the serum IL-32, IL-8 or TNF-α levels in COPD patients with different severity ( all P gt;0. 05) . Conclusion The serumlevel of IL-32, a newpro-inflammatory cytokine is elevated in COPD patients, which may be involved in the pathogenesis of inflammation in COPD.