The easiest thing for me when learning the basics about cytokines/chemokines and receptors was to pick up an Immunology textbook and start reading. This will give you all the basics from the beginning. If you are looking for "basics" and want to start at the beginning, then a textbook is a good place to start. Picking up articles when you do not know what releases which cytokines and in response to what and where they bind on PubMed sounds a little overwhelming... I would go back to the beginning and then use review articles to hone-in on my focus on specific cytokines/receptors once I knew what I was looking for... A good Immunology text should answer all of these intro questions for you.

There was such a hype on chemokines 10-15 years ago; since many small and big companies had cloned some of the members and receptors simultaneously with some overlapping patents, I think many gave up 10 years ago and did not really make it from research to clinical applications and promising concepts of new therapies, but some new drugs might be available soon. Therefore, I think some reviews can still get outdated fast on some aspects, whereas the basics may be similar in all of them (like the nomencalture of chemokines and their receptors). So, for the basics, it may not really matter, just pick one or two from PubMed.

When it comes to the single-molecule level and the first measurement with an AFM to detect the physiologic activation of any integrin by any chemokine on any cell type - then you may read my chapter, but which is extremely far away from being what you look for, since I wrote it more for physics students and scientists who want to address biological questions with an atomic force microscope (AFM).

BTW, I was, of course, the very first in this world to measure that on VLA-4 / VCAM-1 and SDF-1 (=CXCL12). I had the original idea, started the project, developed the project strategy in the mouse system, (mouse cells, anti-mouse function-blocking antibodies, mouse SDF-1 and introducing physiologic contitions for these first measurements of specific integrin-receptor interactions and measuring chemokine activation with AFM-based force measurements); I also planned and organized a similar approach with human cells, human SDF-1, CXCR-4 blocking agent and initiated and started collaborations - but my project was just way too good, so it was plagiarized. Nowadays, Germany invests millions in to my projects.

Chapter Single-Molecule Studies of Integrins by AFM-Based Force Spec...

@Maud, I think the "Academic press: cytokine referece" is a good start. Here is the link

http://www.elsevierdirect.com/companions/9780122526701/demolicense.htm

The easiest thing for me when learning the basics about cytokines/chemokines and receptors was to pick up an Immunology textbook and start reading. This will give you all the basics from the beginning. If you are looking for "basics" and want to start at the beginning, then a textbook is a good place to start. Picking up articles when you do not know what releases which cytokines and in response to what and where they bind on PubMed sounds a little overwhelming... I would go back to the beginning and then use review articles to hone-in on my focus on specific cytokines/receptors once I knew what I was looking for... A good Immunology text should answer all of these intro questions for you.

As a Biochemical Nutritionist and a non-immunologist I entered the 'cytokine' field many years ago. My first discovery was that some cytokines have profound metabolic actions and others do not. These act as stimulators and modulators of many actions of the immune system. I have stuck with cytokines which are inh the first of these categories, namely interleukins 1 and 6 and tumour necrosis factor alpha. I have written some reviews on this area which might or might not be helpful to you. If you look at my publications you will find these.

The appendix of Janeway's Immunobiology textbook (pages 779-783 in the 8th addition) has a nice summary of cytokines and chemokine, their specific receptors and target cells.

Yes, Katy, this was the textbook I was originally thinking about, but I didn't know how much Charly Janeways book is updated. I guess it really is.

It's the best!