Abstract

Discussions about various physiological and pathological processescommonly debate the role of mediators known as cytokines. Also, several drugsare analogues of cytokines or are aimed at blocking the actions of specificcytokines to modify diseases processes.1,2,3,4So, increasingly, healthcare professionals need to have a working knowledgeof cytokines. With this in mind, here, we briefly describe the types and actionsof cytokines, some aspects of their role in certain diseases and the use ofdrugs to augment or block their action.