Can we design a better anti-cytokine therapy?

Cytokine neutralization is successfully used for treatment of various autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammatory conditions. The complex biology of the two well-characterized proinflammatory cytokines TNF and IL-6 implicates unavoidable consequences when it comes to their global blockade. Because systemic cytokine ablation may result in unwanted side effects, efforts have been made to develop more specific cytokine inhibitors, which would spare the protective immunoregulatory functions of a given cytokine. In this article, we review current research and summarize new strategies for improved anti-TNF and anti-IL-6 biologics, which specifically target only selected parts of the signaling cascades mediated by these ligands.