by Elio — Cy­tokines are small pro­teins (~5−20 kDa) that play a large role in our de­fenses against in­fec­tion. They stim­u­late both the in­nate and the ac­quired im­mu­nity and co­or­di­nate the in­ter­play be­tween the two, thus can be prop­erly called im­munomod­u­la­tors. There are lots of them, in­clud­ing in­ter­fer­ons, in­ter­leukins, tu­mor necro­sis fac­tors, chemokines...