CYTOKINES AND SOLUBLE ADHESION MOLECULES IN LABORATORY DIAGNOSTICS - REPORT FROM A MEETING HELD AT THE GERMAN-CANCER-RESEARCH-CENTER IN HEIDELBERG ON THE 25TH NOVEMBER 1997

Cytokines and soluble adhesion molecules play an increasing role in la boratory medicine especially due to the increasing knowledge of the fu nction of the immune system and the availability of cytokine assays on analyzers working in the ''random-access'' mode. This meeting report gives an insight of different applications for the measurements of the se immunomediators. Examples from surgery, pediatrics, transplantation medicine and immunopharmacology show that these parameters could prov ide early and useful information for diagnosis, prognosis, therapeutic decision making and drug actions.