Background: Cytokines has the capacity to serve as biomarkers and therapy targets in a number of cancers. The aim of this study was to estimate the diagnostic potential of serum IL-8 in laryngeal cancer.Methods: Serum levels of IL-8 in 126 laryngeal cancer patients and 112 healthy controls were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analysis. The association of IL-8 with clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed via χ2 test. Additionally, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum IL-8 in laryngeal cancer by calculating the area under ROC curve (AUC).Results: Serum IL-8 was significantly increased in laryngeal cancer patients, and its increased expression was positively associated with T classification (P=0.031), clinical stage (P=0.021) and lymph node metastasis (P=0.023). ROC curve suggested that serum IL-8 had a high value in differentiating laryngeal cancer patients from healthy individuals with a AUC value of 0.859 (95%CI: 0.812-0.906) combing with a sensitivity of 86.5% and a specificity of 72.3%.Conclusion: Serum IL-8 was significantly upregulated in laryngeal cancer which may serve as a biomarker for early diagnosis of laryngeal cancer.