title: Cytokines: monitors of disease severity for the clinic.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cytokines communicate between the cells of the immune system and its targets to maintain homeostasis after injury or pathogenic events. They are involved in almost any pathological situation imaginable.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To verify the importance of cytokines as biomarkers in current preclinical (aetiopathogenic, development of new therapies) and clinical studies (diagnosis, disease severity, prognosis and response to therapy).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A Medline search with the query 'cytokine' AND 'biomarker' AND a variable for a variety of biomedical fields, followed by deeper-level searches, demonstrated the immense popularity of cytokines as biomarkers in almost any biomedical field.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As cytokines are not disease-specific they do not serve as single diagnostic biomarkers. The strength of the cytokines resides in monitoring disease severity, prognosis and response to treatment.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine Department of Immunology, UANL, Gonzalitos 235, Mitras Centro, Monterrey, NL, Mexico, CP64460.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Meester
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Solis-Soto