Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 7, Issue 11, 2001

Over the last several years, it has become increasingly clear that dendritic cells (DC) are not only critical for the initiation of T cell immunity, but these cells also determine the course of the subsequent immune response (i.e. tolerance vs. immunity, Th1 vs Th2). However, the mechanisms by which DC can influence the final outcome of a given immune response remain to be understood. Currently, the ability of DC to direct im Read More

HIV infects and propagates into CD4+T lymphocytes and macrophages, although many other cell types play an important role in virus spreading and pathogenesis. In addition to regulatory viral proteins, the cytokine network has early been implicated as a major controller of the plastic capacity of HIV to spread productively or rather remain silently integrated in the chromosomes of infected cells. The recent discovery of Read More

Tuberculosis (TB) remains to be a leading infectious cause of death Worldwide. Apparently, the current BCG vaccine that has been used for 80 years, has failed to control the TB epidemic. Hunting for improved TB vaccine formulations represents a daunting task to TB research community. Anti-TB host Defense requires T cell-mediated immunity and we are in desperate need of enhanced understanding of how to develop a Read More

This review examines the evidence, both from experimental models and Numerous clinical settings, that has suggested that suppression of acute allograft Rejection correlates with a relative decrease in type-1 cytokine production and an increase in type-2 cytokine production. This correlation has spurred studies on cytokine gene polymorphisms, to assess evidence that certain cytokine-producing genotypes are associated with Read More

Although current pharmacopoeia is effective in alleviating asthma symptomatology, it is equally unable to modify the fundamental immunological basis of the allergic diathesis. The explosion in knowledge of the immunobiology of cytokines that has occurred in the last decade has remarkably clarified our understanding of the pathogenesis of allergic asthma, and has unleashed a plethora of compelling opportunities. In the first Read More

Cytokines are critical to a myriad of fundamental homeostatic and pathophysiological processes such as fever, wound healing, inflammation, tissue repair and fibrosis. They play important roles in regulating cell function such as proliferation, migration, and matrix synthesis. It is the balance or the net effect of the complex interplay between these mediators, which appears to play a major role in regulating the initiation, progres Read More