. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jan 1.

Published in final edited form as: Ann Pharmacother. 2013 Nov 4;48(1):77–85. doi: 10.1177/1060028013510698

Table 1.

Cytokines of the immune system and their biological activity

Cytokine	Inflammatory or Anti-inflammatory	Primary cell source	Cell Target	Biological Activity
IL-1α,β^9,11–14	Inflammatory	Monocytes/Macrophages, fibroblasts, most epithelial cells, endothelial cells	All cells	Increases adhesion molecule expression, neutrophil and macrophage emigration, mimics shock, produces fever, upregulates hepatic acute-phase protein production, stimulates hematopoiesis
IL-2^9,12,15	Inflammatory	T-cells, NK cells	T-cells, B-cells, NK cells, monocytes/macrophages	Promotes T-cell and NK cell proliferation and activation, enhanced monocyte/macrophage activity, Ig production
IL-4^9,12,13,16	Anti-inflammatory	T_H2 cells, mast cells, basophils	T-cells, B-cells, NK cells, monocytes/macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, endothelial cells, fibroblasts	Stimulates T_H2 cell differentiation and proliferation. Stimulates B-cell Ig class switch to IgE, anti-inflammatory action on macrophages, produces allergic inflammatory responses
IL-6^9,11,16,17	Inflammatory	Monocytes/Macrophages, fibroblasts, stromal cells	T-cells, B-cells, epithelial cells, hepatocytes, monocytes/macrophages	Induces acute-phase protein production, T- and B-cell differentiation and growth, proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and osteoclast growth and activation
IL-8^9,12,18,19	Inflammatory	Monocytes/Macrophages, fibroblasts endothelial cells, keratinocytes	Neutrophils, T-cells, monocytes/macrophages, endothelial cells, basophils	Induces PML migration, histamine release from basophils, and stimulates angiogenesis. Suppresses proliferation of hepatic precursors. Stimulates the release of IFNγ
IL-10^9,12,13,16	Anti-inflammatory	Monocytes/Macrophages, T-cells, B cells, keratinocytes, mast cells	Monocytes/Macrophages, T-cells, B cells, NK cells, neutrophils, dendritic cells	Inhibits proinflammatory cytokine production, downregulates class II MHC and co-stimulatory molecule expression, inhibits T_H1 cell development, promotes T_H2 cell development, inhibits production of ROS and adhesion molecule expression
IFN-γ^9,11,16	Inflammatory	T-cells, NK cells	All cells	Regulates macrophage and NK cell activations. Induction of MHC class I and II proteins. T_H1 cell differentiation. Induces chemokine and cell adhesion molecule production. Induces thrombopoiesis
TNF-α^9,11	Inflammatory	Monocytes/Macrophages, mast cells, basophils, eosinophils, NK cells, B-cells, T-cells, keratinocytes, fibroblasts, epithelial cells	All cells except erythrocytes	Fever, anorexia, shock, capillary leak syndrome, neutrophil production, increased production of coagulation factors, acute phase protein synthesis, proinflammatory cytokine induction, and fibroblast activation

Abbreviations: IL, interleukin; NK, natural killer; T_H1 – T helper type 1, Ig – immunoglobulin, PML – polymorphonuclear leukocyte, IFN, interferon, MHC – major histocompatibility complex, ROS, reactive oxygen species; TNF, tumor necrosis factor.