Cytokines & Chemokines

Cytokines, small signaling proteins secreted primarily by immune cells, activate inter- and intracellular signaling during immune responses. Historically, cytokines were functionally separated into 2 families: lymphokines/interleukins and chemokines. All cytokines released by immune cells were called lymphokines/interleukins, whereas chemotactic cytokines were called chemokines. However, these family descriptions are no longer accurate because some growth factors and hormones exhibit cellular effects very similar to cytokine family members. Cytokine expression plays a fundamental role in the development and function of the immune system. Many different cell types secrete chemokines, most often to attract immune cells to the site of infection or injury during innate and adaptive immune responses. The effect of a cytokine release depends on the activated cell type expressing the specific cytokine receptor. Cytokines and their receptors participate in a diverse array of functions beyond innate and adaptive immunity including inflammation, immune cell differentiation, angiogenesis, tumorigenesis, development, neurobiology, and viral pathogenesis. Dysregulation of cytokine expression is a cause of immunological and inflammatory diseases as well as other disease states.

QIAGEN provides a broad range of assay technologies for cytokine and chemokine research that enables analysis of gene expression and regulation, epigenetic modification, genotyping, and signal transduction pathway activation. Solutions optimized for cytokine and chemokine studies include PCR array, miRNA, siRNA, mutation analysis, pathway reporter, chromatin IP, DNA methylation, and protein expression products.