The existence of a new family of chemotactic cytokines was realised in 1987 following the isolation and structural determination by several groups of a peptide consisting of 72 amino acids which was a potent activator of neutrophils and a chemotactic agent for lymphocytes. The first symposium of this series was held at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in December 1988, entitled Novel Neutrophil Stimulating Peptides, and brought together the majority of the laboratories which had published in this area, see Immunology Today 10: 146-147(1989). Since the first symposium there has been a...