Cytokine bioassays: an overview.

Although eclipsed in recent years by immunoassays and molecular biology techniques, bioassays remain a vital research tool for cytokine biology. Like any type of biological system, cytokine bioassays require meticulous technique to obtain accurate and reproducible results. However, these minor difficulties are more than compensated for by their exclusive detection of biologically active molecules, a feature as yet unmatched by other assay methods.