Cytokine-based therapy or cytokine-blockage/-modulation represent an important challenge in modern pharmacology. A lot of experimental data and a growing number of clinical studies show that in a variety of diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, spondylitis, chronic myeloproliferative illnesses, primary and secondary osteoporosis) the application of recombinant cytokines or inhibitory anti-cytokine molecules is undoubtedly beneficious. The high cost of such therapies limit their availability, however, recommendations for well-defined patient subgroups are reasonable. In this paper, a few important cytokine targets and their regulatory role in healthy and pathological conditions are rewieved.
Keywords: cytokines, molecular targets, cytokine modulation