The Fifth International Lymphokine Workshop was convened in Clearwater
Beach, Florida, January 11-15, 1987. The theme chosen for the meeting
was 'The Molecular Basis of Lymphokine Action," which reflected the
opinion of the organizers as to how far the field had moved since the
first Lymphokine Workshop only eleven years ago. As was evident at the
last Lymphokine Workshop held in 1985, the contribution of molecular
biology, particularly in the cloning of lymphokine genes, continues to
play an important role in clarifying the structure of lymphokines,
providing recombinant (read "pure") proteins for biological studies, and
suggesting directions for studies of the molecular basis of lymphokine
activity. The most recent lymphokines to yield to molecular cloning
meth- odology were the B-cell growth and differentiation factors, in
partic- ular BSF-1 or, as it is sometimes termed, interleukin 4. One of
the surprises from this research is the broad spectrum of activities
that can be attributed to this molecule, aside from its effects on
B-cells, thus perhaps justifying its being called an interleukin. The
interleukin 2 symposium demonstrated that even in a well-established
research area, controversy and excitement can continue, when evidence
was presented by several investigators indicating the presence of a
second "converter" protein that changes the affinity of the now
classical Tac antigen from a low to a high affinity IL-2 receptor.
