Cytokine-binding proteins: stimulating antagonists.

Cytokine-binding proteins (CBPs) block the ability of cytokines to interact with their receptors. These agents can potentially provide a means of treating pathological conditions that have a significant cytokine involvement. However, a major drawback of such approaches relates to the fact that CBPs stabilize the cytokine in the form of a cytokine-CBP complex in vivo. Here, Bernard Klein and Hervé Brailly discuss the possibility that CBPs behave either as agonists or antagonists according to their pharmacokinetic characteristics in vivo, and suggest a mechanism by which stable complexes might be cleared from the system.