The role of cytokines in inflammatory glomerular injury

T lymphocyte and macrophage-derived cytokines play an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory glomerular injury by exerting both effector and regulatory actions. In this article, evidence implicating these cytokines in the pathogenesis of experimental and human glomerulonephritis will be reviewed. The possibility that cytokines derived from different T lymphocyte subpopulations modulate glomerular inflammation by exerting opposite actions on macrophages will be discussed.