ROLE OF CYTOKINES IN HEART-FAILURE

Heart Failure is a complex neurohumoral and inflammatory syndrome. Stu dies have shown that proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1, interle ukin-2, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor) are involved in card iac depression and in the complex syndrome of heart failure. Understan ding the involvement of these cytokines may enable us to reverse cardi ac depression and heart failure with the use of monoclonal antibodies directed against specific cytokines that may block the downhill progre ssion of heart failure.