Molecular Mechanisms Involved in the Control of Differential Cytokine Expression in Human Monocytes

During the last few years a tremendous increase has been obtained in our knowledge of cytokines. Apart from the identification of new cytokines we have reached a better understanding of cytokine gene regulation as well as of signal transduction pathways leading to cytokine gene expression. One of the intriguing phenomena of the regulation of cytokines is the specificity in effects of stimulatory agents which has been observed in different haematopoietic cells. This differential regulation of cytokines is most extensively studied in human monocytes.