Immunomodulators — Medicine for the 90-ies?

Abstract

Macrophages are multipotential cells that can do almost anything that a somatic cell can do provided they get the right "signals". We know several endogenous or exogenous substances (immunomodu-lators> that can provide such "signals" and change the functions of the macro-phages and thereby trigger dramatic responses in vivo. It is speculated that novel immunomodulators in the future will constitute a new cathegory of therapeutic agents that can either down-regulate or up-regulate specific functions of the "master of the connective tissue".