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For example, both bone morphogenetic protein 4 and nerve growth factor are paracrine signaling proteins which promote growth of their respective tissues, and both are known to have some effect on the immune system - but BMP4 is considered a cytokine whereas NGF generally isn't. I'm having trouble understanding the criteria by which some nonhormonal signaling proteins are classified as cytokines and some aren't.

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Stack Exchange Biology. Please read the Help on Asking Questions. You will see that you are expected to show the research you have done to answer a question yourself and why what you have found doesn't answer your question. What have you found in searching for the term? The Wikipedia article refers to it as a "loose term", which is often the case for biological terminology, so rather than a "precise" term the best you can expect might be "common or accepted usage". There are few standards bodies in biology. $\endgroup$
    – David
    Commented Jun 2, 2023 at 22:23
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    $\begingroup$ @David clearly I've done some degree of research on the topic as I gave very specific examples as well as compared their pertinent characteristics and detailed what about them I found unclear. As I stated, I'm asking a question about what's "generally considered" a cytokine i.e. "common or accepted usage." I was simply assuming there was some line of reasoning in regard to the common classification that I had missed - if you're telling me there is actually no consistency in how it's generally used, that's rather unsatisfying but I'll accept it. $\endgroup$
    – Candlebeam
    Commented Jun 3, 2023 at 0:23
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    $\begingroup$ You seem to have a general concept of cytokine that you assume we all share. No. State this and relate it to your examples: It is my understanding that a cytokine is “a molecule that [does such and such]”, to quote [authoritative source]. Consistent with this, X, which [does A] is generally referred to as a cytokine. On this basis I would expect that Y, which [does B], would also be regarded as a cytokine, but it seems never to be described as such. Why is this? Is there some feature of cytokines that B lacks that is generally assumed but not explicitly stated in the definition above? $\endgroup$
    – David
    Commented Jun 3, 2023 at 8:42

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