Cytokines are soluble mediators of intercellular communication. They contribute to a chemical signalling language that regulates development, tissue repair, haemopoiesis, inflammation and the immune response. Potent cytokine polypepides have pleiotropic activities and functional redundancy.They act in a complex network where one cytokine can influence the production of, and response to, many other cytokines. In the past five years, this bewildering array of more than 100 effector molecules and associated cell surface receptors has been simplified by study of cytokine and cytokinereceptor structure; elucidation of convergent intracellular signalling pathways; and molecular genetics, and targeted gene disruption to 'knock-out' production of individual cytokines in mice. It is also now clear that the pathophysiology of infectious, autoimmune and malignant disease can bepartially explained by the induction of cytokines and the subsequent cellular response. Viral homologues exist for many cytokines and receptors and genetic variations in cytokine production may influence response to pathogenic stimuli. Cytokine and cytokine antagonists have shown therapeuticpotential in a number of chronic and acute diseases. The Cytokine Network: Frontiers in Molecular Biology is not a survey of individual cytokines, but guides the reader through the latest research on the cytokine network as a whole covering genomics, signalling pathways, control of the immuneresponse, and therapeutics.

The Cytokines of the Immune System catalogs cytokines and links them to physiology and pathology, providing a welcome and hugely timely tool for scientists in all related fields. In cataloguing cytokines, it lists their potential for therapeutic use, links them to disease treatments needing further research and development, and shows their utility for learning about the immune system. This book offers a new approach in the study of cytokines by combining detailed guidebook-style cytokine description, disease linking, and presentation of immunologic roles. - Supplies new ideas for basic and clinical research - Provides cytokine descriptions in a guidebook-style, cataloging the origins, structures, functions, receptors, disease-linkage, and therapeutic potentials - Offers a textbook-style view on the immune system with the immunologic role of each cytokine

Cytokine Effector Functions in Tissues discusses the cytokines networks in the context of the specific-tissue environment. It is an up-to-date collection of articles that addresses the specific issue of how the cytokines are able to condition tissue specific homeostasis. The book helps the reader understand how cytokines network inside the tissues and highlights whether tissue-protection or exacerbation will be finally controlled. It describes the cytokines detected and regulated in different tissues, such as the brain, lungs, spleen, liver, pancreas and intestine, also addressing the issue of timing in specific cell types. - Categorizes the cytokines based primarily on tissue and target cells - Emphasizes different roles and outcomes observed during innate and adaptive response - Represents a rapid guide to cytokines in health and disease in tissue and organ context - Presents a different view on how known mediators may work if analyzed in a different perspective, determining the final outcome on tissue-specific target cells

How do you keep track of basic information on the proteins you work with? Where do you find details of their physicochemical properties, amino acid sequences, gene organization? Are you tired of scanning review articles, primary papers and databases to locate that elusive fact? The Academic Press FactsBook series will satisfy scientists and clinical researchers suffering from information overload. Each volume provides a catalogue of the essential properties of families of molecules. Gene organization, amino acid sequences, physicochemical properties, and biological activity are presented using a common, easy-to-follow format. Taken together they compile everything you wanted to know about proteins but were too busy to look for. More than 45 entries on human and murine cytokines and their receptors, including: * Cytokine receptor superfamilies * Interleukins 1-15 * Other cytokines * Additional information is provided on: * Alternative nomenclature * Cross reactivity * Sources * Bio assays * Physicochemical properties of the cytokines and their receptors * 3-D structure * Gene structure and chromosomal localisation * Amino acid sequences of the cytokines and their receptors * Receptors * Receptor distribution * Signal transduction * Chromosomal location of the receptors * References

It is only during the last decade that the functions of sinusoidal endothelial cells, Kupffer cells, hepatic stellate cells, pit cells and other intrahepatic lymphocytes have been better understood. The development of methods for isolation and co-culturing various types of liver cells has established that they communicate and cooperate via secretion of various intercellular mediators. This monograph summarizes multiple data that suggest the important role of cellular cross-talk for the functions of both normal and diseased liver. Special features of the book include concise presentation of the majority of detailed data in 19 tables. Original schemes allow for the clear illustration of complicated intercellular relationships. This is the first ever presentation of the newly emerging field of liver biology, which is important for hepatic function in health and disease and opens new avenues for therapeutic interventions.

Within the past few years, it has become recognized that the immune system communicates to the brain. Substances released from activated immune cells (cytokines) stimulate peripheral nerves, thereby signaling the brain and spinal cord that infection/inflammation has occurred. Additionally, peripheral infection/inflammation leads to de novo synthesis and release of cytokines within the brain and spinal cord. Thus, cytokines effect neural activation both peripherally and centrally. Through this communication pathway, cytokines such as interleukin-1, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor markedly alter brain function, physiology and behavior. One important but underrecognized aspect of this communication is the dramatic impact that immune activation has on pain modulation. The purpose of this book is to examine, for the first time, immune-to-brain communication from the viewpoint of its effect on pain processing. It is aimed both at the basic scientist and health care providers, in order to clarify the major role that substances released by immune cells play in pain modulation. This book contains chapters contributed by all of the major laboratories focused on understanding how cytokines modulate pain. These chapters provide a unique vantage point from which to examine this question, as the summarized work ranges from evolutionary approaches across diverse species, to the basics of the immune response, to the effect of cytokines on peripheral and central nervous system sites, to therapeutic potential in humans.

Dieses Fachbuch erläutert die molekularen Grundlagen von Entzündungen, spannt den Bogen zu Infektionskrankheiten und den Zusammenhang zwischen Entzündungen und chronischen Erkrankungen, behandelt abschließend den Heilungsprozess und zeigt Therapiemöglichkeiten.

Completely revised and expanded, this second edition of The Cytokine FactsBook is the most up-to-date reference manual available for all current well-characterized interleukins, cytokines, and their receptors. An additional 52 cytokines are included, doubling the number of entries from the previous edition. The key properties of each cytokine are described and presented in a very accessible format with diagrams for each of the receptors. The Cytokine FactsBook includes free online access to the regularly updated Cytokine Webfacts. Cytokine Webfacts is a web-based comprehensive compendium of facts about cytokines and their receptors that includes a variety of data representations, such as text, signal pathway diagrams and 3D images. This exciting resource is integrated into other databases via hypertext links to provide a unique network, and contains a web-enabled version of RasMol for viewing structures.

This volume covers aspects of sudden infant and early childhood death, ranging from issues with parental grief, to the most recent theories of brainstem neurotransmitters. It also deals with the changes that have occurred over time with the definitions of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), SUDI (sudden unexpected death in infancy) and SUDIC (sudden unexpected death in childhood). The text will be indispensable for SIDS researchers, SIDS organisations, paediatric pathologists, forensic pathologists, paediatricians and families, in addition to residents in training programs that involve paediatrics. It will also be of use to other physicians, lawyers and law enforcement officials who deal with these cases, and should be a useful addition to all medical examiner/forensic, paediatric and pathology departments, hospital and university libraries on a global scale. Given the marked changes that have occurred in the epidemiology and understanding of SIDS and sudden death in the very young over the past decade, a text such as this is very timely and is also urgently needed.