[Several recent advances in the significance and properties of interleukins].

The interleukins play an important role as intensifying molecules in the activation of the immune system in infections and inflammation processes. Antigens are worked up by macrophages and B-lymphocytes, whereby partly develop particularly intensively antigen-effective compounds. The uptake of antigens in macrophages evokes the formation of interleukin 1 which has multivarious effects. The macrophages and the B-lymphocytes present the antigens worked up after uptake into the cell membrane to certain forms of T-lymphocytes which thus are stimulated to the formation of the interleukins 2 to 6. The interleukins 2 and 4 promote the increase of certain forms of T-lymphocytes and the formation of cytotoxically acting T-lymphocytes. The interleukin 3 is of importance for the increase of stem cells of the bone-marrow and for their differentiation. The interleukins 4, 5, and 6 promote the increase of certain B-lymphocytes. In the liver the interleukins 1 and 6 stimulate the formation of numerous proteins which have influence on inflammation processes.