title: Trial Watch: Immunostimulatory cytokines.
abstract: During the last two decades, a number of approaches for the activation of the immune system against cancer has been developed. These include highly specific interventions, such as monoclonal antibodies, vaccines and cell-based therapies, as well as relatively unselective strategies, such as the systemic administration of adjuvants and immunomodulatory cytokines. Cytokines constitute a huge group of proteins that, taken together, regulate not only virtually all the aspects of innate and cognate immunity, but also several other cellular and organismal functions. Cytokines operate via specific transmembrane receptors that are expressed on the plasma membrane of target cells and, depending on multiple variables, can engage autocrine, paracrine or endocrine signaling pathways. The most appropriate term for defining the cytokine network is "pleiotropic": cytokines are produced by - and operate on - multiple, often overlapping, cell types, triggering context-depend biological outcomes as diverse as cell proliferation, chemotaxis, differentiation, inflammation, elimination of pathogens and cell death. Moreover, cytokines often induce the release of additional cytokines, thereby engaging self-amplificatory or self-inhibitory signaling cascades. In this Trial Watch, we will summarize the biological properties of cytokines and discuss the progress of ongoing clinical studies evaluating their safety and efficacy as immunomodulatory agents against cancer.
authors: INSERM; U848; Villejuif, France ; Université Paris-Sud/Paris XI; Paris, France.
authors: Erika
authors: E
authors: Vacchelli
authors: Lorenzo
authors: L
authors: Galluzzi
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Eggermont
authors: Jerome
authors: J
authors: Galon
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Tartour
authors: Laurence
authors: L
authors: Zitvogel
authors: Guido
authors: G
authors: Kroemer