PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ROLES OF CYTOKINES IN DEVELOPMENT, IMMUNITY, AND INFLAMMATION

The symposium on The Role of Cytokines in Inflammation held at The American Association of Immunologists meeting in Denver, Colorado on May 25, 1993, was organized by Drs. Maureen Howard and Joost J. Oppenheim to reflect 30 years of progress in the field. Dr. John David, who first reported a cytokine, macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF),(2) reviewed the subsequent isolation, sequencing, cDNA cloning, expression, and characterization of this pioneer among cytokines. The properties of interleukins-12 and -13 (IL-12, IL-13) were presented by their discoverers, Drs. Maurice Gately and Gerard Zurawski, respectively. Two speakers addressed the pathophysiological roles of tumor growth factor beta (TGF beta), a pluripotent cytokine with contrasting anti-inflammatory and immunoenhancing properties. Dr. Ron Diebold's studies of mice deficient in TGF beta 1 document the crucial anti-inflammatory role of this cytokine in normal animals whereas Dr. Sharon Wahl's studies of the role of TGF beta in arthritis reveal the proinflammatory propensities. Studies of the role of cytokines in immunodeficient mice by Dr. Emil Unanue revealed their pivotal role in early nonimmunological host defense processes. Dr. Scott Durum elucidated crucial roles for cytokines in the development of the immune system by inducing rearrangement of the T cell receptor gene in thymocytes. Finally, the immunoregulatory roles of TH1 or TH2 cytokines were considered by Drs. Robert Modlin and Gene Shearer to determine whether cellular or humoral immunity prevails in infectious diseases such as leprosy, leishmaniasis, tuberculosis, and AIDS.