Cytokine polymorphisms and inflammation.

Cytokines and chemokines are important mediators of inflammation. The numbers are still expanding. It is clear that these mediators act in positive and negative feedback loops in a complex network to allow inflammation as well as repair to take place. The fact that many of these molecules and their receptors are polymorphic with functional consequences is becoming clear. Such genetic polymor phisms will impact on the network to produce a variety of inflammatory responses, both acute and chronic.