Over the past ten years, a number of cytokines and growth factors have
proven to be as effective therapeutics. While these products have
certainly established recombinant biologics as a major pharmaceutical
growth sector, the continued interest in this class of drugs arises from
the fact that today we have a far better understanding of the human
immune response, both at a cellular and molecular level.
This has resulted in a more methodical characterisation of these factors
which has given clinical researchers an opportunity to plan Phase 1
clinical trials that can provide substantial information on the activity
of the cytokine in humans. Currently, a great deal of effort is also
being channelled into identifying cytokines from the various DNA
databases.
Our major objective for this book is to profile cytokines that have been
recently identified. The therapeutic potential of these cytokines based
on their known properties will be discussed by the authors. The main aim
of this book is to provide...