Cytokines

Once a month, I receive an email with the latest and greatest from the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. I like to keep up on developments and the articles usually have some useful information or send me down a useful path of research to increase my understanding of PIDDs, CIVD, and the immune system in general.

This month's journal included some research published about the cytokine now known as IL-25 (formerly IL-17E). Basically, it was found that the body produced this particular cytokine as a reaction to allergens, so it plays a role in allergic inflammation. Interesting. I hadn't previously read a great deal about cytokines, so down the rabbit hole I went.

I read several abstracts and settled on a few articles I thought were interesting, mainly focusing my work on things related to IL-25. I quickly saw that this was a broader and more interesting topic, so I expanded my search. I found this article and have been engrossed in the knowledge of each cytokine. This has expanded somewhat since 2009 when the article was published, but I'm finding it to be an interesting read.

Here are the basics of what I've learned about cytokines so far:
-Cytokines seem to be the immunological equivalent of hormones in the endocrine system.
-Researchers don't actually know much that is conclusive about these molecules.
-There are several that are responsible for B cell maturation and plasma cell differentiation.
-There are several cytokines that underlie allergic reactions and conditions - it's not just IgE, which I'd previously been lead to believe and is, seemingly, a pretty common misconception among physicians.
-Cytokines seem to be responsible at some base level for every function in the immune system.

There are several cytokines I want to talk about individually, but this is a good place to start. I will be focusing on the cytokines relevant to immunoglobulin production and autoimmune disease functions.