ABSTRACT
Cytokine measurement in clinical samples is an area of considerable and growing interest because of the importance of cytokines in mediating immunologic diseases (see chapter 16). Although most assays measuring cytokines are used in research settings rather than in clinical diagnosis or monitoring, this trend will likely change in the coming years. Already, clinical trials of vaccines for HIV and other diseases are using cytokine-based assays to measure the immunogenicity of candidate vaccines and to search for potential surrogate markers of protection from disease.1 Licensed clinical assays measuring the cytokine interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) are currently available for diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB),2 and other such clinical assays will likely follow. Here the major types of cytokine assays are discussed and compared, and sample data and reference ranges are provided for researchers using these assays on clinical samples.
