Answer to Question #232142 in Microbiology for Assignment

Question

Therapeutic usages of cytokines

Answer 1

Cytokine therapy directed at lack of andogenous cytokine replacement, or enhancement of their biological action.

Cytokines have huge potential of formation and regulation of defense reactions, and pretend to the role of the most effective medical products affecting all sides of non-specific resistance and non-specific immunity development without exception. The promising perspective of cytokine clinical usage for treatment of widespread diseases, including infectious and cancer, always was the driving force for cytokine study. There are some cytokine products registered in the world, including interferons, colony-stimulating factors, interleukins, their antagonists and some other cytokines. Undoubtedly, the future of cytokine therapy is connected with genetically engineered products, synthesizing using last achievements of biotechnology.

Usage of cytokines is also useful to modulate the immune repsonse against cancer cells. IL-2 is a cytokine approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of metastatic mekanoma and renal cell cancer. Cytokines may be loaded into nanocarriers that would eneble their specific and sustained delivery. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-loaded liposomes when used in combination with doxorubicin-loaded liposomes showed enhanced antitumor activity in soft tissue sarcoma-bearing rats.