Abstract. Inflammatory mediators play an important role during the process of degeneration of the human intervertebral disc. The present study focused on a large group of cytokines and their expression in anulus fibrosus (AF) and nucleus pulposus (NP) of herniated and normal lumbar intervertebral disc. The AF and NP samples were obtained from 8 patients during surgery for herniated lumbar intervertebral disc and from 5 controls during multiorgan procurement procedure. There was no statistically significant difference in the levels of cytokines between AF and NP in the group of patients and also no statistically significant difference in the levels of cytokines between AF and NP in the group of controls. Comparison of cytokine levels in AF between patients and controls revealed significantly decreased levels of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, MCP-1 in patients compared to controls. Comparison of cytokine levels in NP between patients and controls revealed significantly decreased levels of IL7, IL-10, GM-CSF in patients compared to controls. The results of our study support the opinion that immune reactions may play an important role in the degenerative processes in lumbar degenerative disc disease. These reactions are composed not only from a period of hyperinflammation, but also from a period of hypoinflammation. A relation between these two periods of immune system activity are still not clearly understood and require further evaluation for improving our treatment strategies.