Differences Between Chemokines and Cytokines

difference between cytokines and chemokines              Peptide Synthesis

Chemokines vs Cytokines: When you want to order some recombinant proteins for your research, you can see some categories of recombinant proteins, like cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, viral antigens, enzymes, hormones, neurotrophins, CD antigens. Then, you may ask “what is the difference between cytokines and chemokines?”.

Cytokines are a broad and loose category of small proteins (~5–20 kDa) that are important in cell signaling. They are released by cells and affect the behavior of other cells, and sometimes the releasing cell itself. Some cytokines enhance or inhibit the action of other cytokines in complex ways. Cytokines include chemokines, interferons, interleukins, lymphokines, tumour necrosis factor but generally not hormones or growth factors.

Chemokines are a family of small cytokines, or signaling proteins secreted by cells. Their name is derived from their ability to induce directed chemotaxis in nearby responsive cells; they are chemotactic cytokines. In Greek, -kinos means movement. Chemokines can be identified by a) shared structural characteristics such as small size (they are all approximately 8-10 kDa in size) b) four cysteine residues in conserved locations that are key to forming their 3-dimensional shape. Chemokines have been classified into four main subfamilies : CXC, CC, CX3C and XC.