Research into cytokines has reached a challenging stage. Their importance to physiological and pathological processes is undoubted and the clinical application of both the molecules and their antagonists is of increasing importance. Every month more novel cytokine molecules are identified, each with a perplexing multiplicity and redundancy of action. In talks that ranged from rheumatoid arthritis, oncology and lymphocyte subsets, to transcription factors and xenopus mesoderm, a recent meeting* in London discussed the latest cytokine news.