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The many faces of VIP in neuroimmunology: a cytokine rather a neuropeptide?
Author(s) -
Pozo David,
Delgado Mario
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fj.03-1440hyp
Subject(s) - neuroimmunology , vasoactive intestinal peptide , immune system , neuropeptide , cytokine , receptor , biology , neuroscience , hormone , immunology , endocrinology , medicine
Neuroimmunomodulation has experienced an explosive growth not only in basic research, but expanding to the point that prospective clinical research could be now a reality. A crucial factor for the functioning of this intimate bidirectional network was the demonstration that the immune and neuroendocrine systems speak a mutual biochemical language. This implies 1 ) production of neuroendocrine hormones and neuropeptides by immune cells and of cytokines by neuroendocrine cells; 2 ) evidence for shared receptors on cells of the immune and neuroendocrine systems; 3 ) effect of neuroendocrine mediators on immune functions;and 4 ) effect of cytokines on the neuroendocrine system. This reduces traditional differences between neurotransmitters, hormones, and immune mediators and raises the following question: what can we now regard as immune or neuroendocrine? Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is one example of this paradigm. VIP has traditionally been classified as a neuropeptide/neurotransmitter based in its capacity to mediate and regulate neuronal functions. Recent work has demonstrated that VIP is produced by T cells, especially Th2 cells, and that through specific receptors it exerts immunological functions typically ascribed to Th2 cytokines in nervous and immune systems. Here, we postulate that instead of a neuropeptide, VIP could be fully considered a type 2 cytokine with a key role in neuroimmunology.—Pozo, D., Delgado, M. The many faces of VIP in neuroimmunology: a cytokine rather a neuropeptide? FASEBJ . 18, 1325–1334 (2004)