Table 4

β-ARs-mediated effects of CAs on cytokine and chemokine production

CytokineTypeSourceEffectCommentsReferences
IL-12Type 1, pro-inflammatoryAPCs↓ Major inducer of Th1 responses Elenkov et al., 1996; Panina-Bordignon et al., 1997; Hasko et al., 1998c,d
TNF-αType 1, pro-inflammatoryAPCs↓4-a Major pro-inflammatory cytokine Severn et al., 1992; Elenkov et al., 1995;Hasko et al., 1995a
IFN-γType 1, pro-inflammatoryTh1 cells, NK cells↓ Potent activator of macrophages and inhibitor of Th2 functions Sanders et al., 1997; Borger et al., 1998
IL-2Type 1Th0, Th1 cells, NK cells↓ Important proliferative factor for lymphocytes Chouaib et al., 1985
IL-1Pro-inflammatoryAPCs, fibroblasts, endothelium, many other cells↓4-a Major pro-inflammatory cytokine; endogeneous pyrogen Koff et al., 1986b;van der Poll and Lowry, 1997a
IL-4Type 2, anti-inflammatoryTh2 cellsNo effect4-b β-ARs are not expressed on Th2 cells Sanders et al., 1997; Borger et al., 1998
IL-10Type 2, anti-inflammatoryAPCs, Th2 cells↑ (APCs)4-b Potent inhibitor of Th1 and macrophage functions Elenkov et al., 1996; van der Poll et al., 1996; Suberville et al., 1996b
IL-6Type 2 (?), pro- and anti-inflammatoryAPCs, Th2 cells, TEC↑ (APCs)4-b BCDF, inducer of acute phase proteins DeRijk et al., 1994; Hasko et al., 1995a;Papanicolaou et al., 1996
TGF-βType 2, anti-inflammatoryWide variety of cells↑ (fibroblasts)Potent inhibitor of Th1 and macrophage functions Fisher and Absher, 1995
IL-8Pro-inflammatoryMonocytes endothelium↑ Chemotactic for neutrophils Linden, 1996; van der Poll and Lowry, 1997b
IL-3Hemopoietic factorT cells↓ Pan-specific colony-stimulating factor Borger et al., 1996
GM-CSFHemopoietic factorLymphocytes↓ Promotes the development of the precursors of granulocytes and macrophages Borger et al., 1996
MIP-1αPro-inflammatoryLymphocytes↓ Chemotactic for macrophages and T lymphocytes Hasko et al., 1998b

  • ↵4-a  See also local responses and macrophage functions.

  • ↵4-b  CAs are probably not able to affect the production of type 2 cytokines by Th2 cells directly, simply because they do not express β-ARs. Indirectly, however, they may potentiate the cytokine production by Th2, since they remove the inhibitory restraints on these cells exerted mainly by IL-12 and IFN-γ.