$re = '/\b([A-Za-z]+\s*\([A-Z]+\)|[A-Z]+)(\s*-\d+(?:,\s*-\d+)*)(?:,\s*and\s+(-\d+))?/m';
$str = 'The acnes stimulated the mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-1, -8, LL-37, MMP-1, -2, -3, -9, and -13 in keratinocytes.';
preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER, 0);
// Print the entire match result
var_dump($matches);
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php