**1. Introduction**

The innate and adaptive immune responses are key factors in the control of infections or chronic diseases. The balance between these two systems is mainly orchestrated by cytokines [1]. Cytokines are low-molecular-weight proteins that contribute to the chemical language that regulates the development and repair of tissues, hematopoiesis, inflammation, etc., through the transduction of signals mediated by binding to cellular receptors. Cytokines can act on their target cells in an autocrine, paracrine, and/or endocrine fashion to induce systemic and/or localized immune responses. In addition, cytokines have pleiotropic activity, that is, they act on different target cells, as well as affect the function of other cytokines in an additive, synergistic, or antagonistic manner [2, 3]. Cytokines can be secreted by immune cells, but they can also be produced by a wide variety of cells in response to infection or can be produced or released from cells in response to cellular damage when cellular integrity is compromised. Acting through a series of conserved signaling pathways that program transcriptional pathways by controlling many biological processes, such as cell growth, cell differentiation, apoptosis, development,

and survival, can also reprogram cells in the local tissue environment to improve certain types of immune responses. Therefore, cytokines are critical mediators of communication for the immune system and are essential for host defense against pathogens [4].
