The role of cachectin/TNF and other cytokines in sepsis.

A traditional view has been that bacterial products, such as endotoxins from gram negative bacteria, have a direct deleterious effect on the host, resulting in fever, hypermetabolism, anorexia, and tissue damage. In recent years, however, it has been shown that endogenous products of the host, secreted by macrophages and other cellular elements of the immune system, act as mediators in activating the metabolic and other physiological changes characteristic of the sepsis syndrome. We will review in depth various aspects of the major, central mediator, i.e., tissue necrosis factor (TNF)/cachectin, and also briefly discuss the interleukins IL-6 and IL-1.