An overview of cytokines and cytokine antagonists as therapeutic agents

Abstract

Cytokine-based therapies have the potential to provide novel treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and many types of infectious disease. However, to date, the full clinical potential of cytokines as drugs has been limited by a number of factors. To discuss these limitations and explore ways to overcome them, the FDA partnered with the New York Academy of Sciences in March 2009 to host a two-day forum to discuss more effective ways to harness the clinical potential of cytokines and cytokine antagonists as therapeutic agents. The first day was focused primarily on the use of recombinant cytokines as therapeutic agents for treatment of human diseases. The second day focused largely on the use of cytokine antagonists as therapeutic agents for treatment of human diseases. This issue of the Annals includes more than a dozen papers that summarize much of the information that was presented during this very informative two-day conference.

Figure 1

Interferons are a group of cytokines that can induce potent antiviral activity in many cell types. The type I, type II, and type III interferons bind to distinct receptor complexes on the cell membrane. Signal transduction induced by the binding of interferons to their cognate receptors induces expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). The proteins encoded by these genes in turn mediate the antiviral activity of the interferons.