title: Prostaglandins: fine tuning the immune system?
abstract: Like the catecholamines, kinins and corticosteroids the prostaglandins are a major class of intercellular messenger and so may be important in maintaining many 'physiological balances'. In this article Michael Bray discusses evidence that the prostaglandins derived from immuno-derived from immuno-inflammatory cell populations influence a range of immunological responses. He proposes that such small molecular weight mediators provide a mechanism for the local homeostatic regulation of immune cell function and that the mechanism's breakdown contributed to the pathology of diseases in which immunological dysfunction plays a part.
authors.affiliation: Biochemical Pharmacology Research Unit, Department of Chemical Pathology, King's College Hospital Medical School, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8RX, U.K.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bray