Periodontal diseases are inflammatory diseases in which microbial etiologic factors induce a series of host responses that mediate inflammatory events. Physiologic inflammation is a well-orchestrated network of cells, mediators and tissues. Cytokines are signaling proteins that help control inflammation in your body. Cytokines have important roles in chemically induced tissue damage repair, in cancer development and progression, in the control of cell replication and apoptosis, and in the modulation of immune reactions such as sensitization. Cytokines are major regulators of innate and adaptive immunity that enable cells of the immune system to communicate over short distances. Cytokine therapy to activate the immune system of cancer patients has been an important treatment modality and continues to be a key contributor to current clinical cancer research. An increasing understanding of how cytokines modulate cell growth and differentiation, cell migration and activation in response to chemicals, and under both normal and altered physiological states promises to yield enormous benefits in medicine and oral biology.
