ABSTRACT
The term ‘cytokine’ was first used in 1974 to describe the group of low molecular weight molecules that are secreted by one cell to mediate cell-cell interaction and regulate the behavior of the same or other nearby cells. The last decade has seen an explosion of literature on cytokine research. The majority of cytokines are multifunctional, share overlapping functions, and their actions are often cell-and environment-specific. Disruption of the balances of the cytokine network underlies the pathogenesis of disease states. Therapeutic manipulation of cytokine profiles are increasingly used in clinical trials.
