Cytokines and cytokine receptors Flashcards
What coordinates interaction between different immune cell types?
cytokines
What are cytokines?
proteins/ glycoproteins that are mainly produced by lymphocytes that allow for immune cell interaction (also called interleukins)
describe some properties of cytokines
high affinity for their receptors
bind to receptors on target cellist initiate activating or suppressive signals
What is autocrine action?
cell acting on itself
What is paracrine action?
cell acting on adjacent cell
What is endocrine action?
cell acting on distant cell
What is pleiotropic action?
same cytokine can have multiple effects on different cells
What is redundancy?
multiple cytokines can have the same effect on a cell
What is synergistic action?
when the effect of two cytokines acting on a cell is greater than just the one
What is antagonistic action?
when the action of one cytokine inhibits the effect of another
What is cascade action?
when the action of a cytokine leads to the activation of more cytokines
Do cytokines act in an antigen specific or non-specific manner?
non-specific
How are cytokine receptors organized?
one unit for cytokine binding, second for signal transduction
