Cohen M C, Cohen S
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UMDNJ--New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07103-2714, USA.
Am J Clin Pathol. 1996 May;105(5):589-98. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/105.5.589.
Cytokines are a group of hormone-like polypeptide mediators that play a variety of regulatory roles in both host defense and normal and abnormal homeostatic mechanisms. They may he produced by diverse cell types and exert their function on a variety of cells. Their effects (which may be suppressive or enhancing) are on cellular proliferation, differentiation, activation, and motility. In addition, cytokines can exert cytodestructive effects on infectious agents or tumor cells, either directly or by activating cells with cytodestructive potential. Any given cytokine may have many different biologic effects. However, two different cytokines may have similar or identical activities. Cytokines may be classified on the basis of their cell of origin, their spectrum of activity, the category of activity they influence, the cells that are their targets, or on specific features of their ligand-receptor interaction. The mode of action of many of the cytokines involves typical signal transduction events such as protein phosphorylation, and to date there is only limited understanding of the mechanisms that lead to one activity over another when a specific cytokine is involved in a specific biologic reaction. Nevertheless, elucidation of their role in other pathologic processes has provided insight into autoimmune and allergic diseases, as well as a variety of systemic disorders. Because of their broad spectrum of activity, cytokines have been used in a variety of therapeutic settings involving both infectious diseases and neoplasia. As the number of known cytokines continues to grow, it will be increasingly difficult for the non-"cytokinologist" to follow the exponentially expanding literature. Hopefully, this brief review will provide an overview that can serve as a framework for the understanding of this important area of biology and pathology.
细胞因子是一类激素样多肽介质，在宿主防御以及正常和异常的稳态机制中发挥多种调节作用。它们可由多种细胞类型产生，并对多种细胞发挥作用。其作用（可能是抑制性的或增强性的）涉及细胞增殖、分化、激活和运动。此外，细胞因子可直接或通过激活具有细胞破坏潜能的细胞，对感染因子或肿瘤细胞发挥细胞破坏作用。任何一种特定的细胞因子可能具有许多不同的生物学效应。然而，两种不同的细胞因子可能具有相似或相同的活性。细胞因子可根据其来源细胞、活性谱、所影响的活性类别、其靶细胞或其配体 - 受体相互作用的特定特征进行分类。许多细胞因子的作用方式涉及典型的信号转导事件，如蛋白质磷酸化，迄今为止，对于当一种特定的细胞因子参与特定的生物学反应时导致一种活性优于另一种活性的机制，人们的了解还很有限。尽管如此，对它们在其他病理过程中作用的阐明，为自身免疫性疾病、过敏性疾病以及各种全身性疾病提供了深入了解。由于细胞因子具有广泛的活性谱，它们已被用于涉及传染病和肿瘤形成的多种治疗环境中。随着已知细胞因子数量的不断增加，非“细胞因子专家”越来越难以跟上呈指数级增长的文献。希望这篇简短的综述能提供一个概述，作为理解这一重要生物学和病理学领域的框架。
