New means to monitor the effect of glucocorticoid therapy in children

Abstract

Aim: To study the individual effects of glucocorticoid (GC) therapy on the state of immune activation in patient serum.

Methods: We developed a novel assay in which the effect of corticosteroid-treated patient serum on healthy donor peripheral blood mononuclear cells (target cells) was studied, with a panel of markers for effector [interferon (IFN)gamma and interleukin (IL)-5] and regulatory T cells (FOXP3 and glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor, GITR). The study group comprised 19 children with inflammatory bowel disease. The individual effect of patient serum on target cells was analyzed prior to GC therapy and 2 wk later.

Results: The effect of GC therapy mediated by patient serum was seen as a decrease in the target cells expression of regulatory T-cell-related markers GITR (median suppression 24%, range of suppression 1%-63%, in 2 cases increase of 6% and 77%, P < 0.01 for mitogen-activated target cells) and FOXP3 (median suppression 33%, range of suppression 0%-79%, in one case an increase of 173%, P < 0.05 for resting cells), and secretion of IFNgamma [from a mean of 87 700 pg/mL (SD 33 900 pg/mL) to 60 900 pg/mL (SD 44 200 pg/mL) in mitogen-activated target cells, 13 of the cases showed a decrease, P < 0.01]. The total or weight-related prednisolone dose did not correlate with the patient-serum-induced changes in the target cell markers.

Conclusion: GC response could be monitored at an individual level by studying the effect of patient serum on signaling pathways of target immune cells.

Figure 1

GITR and FOXP3 gene expression in target cells when cultured with patient serum taken before (A) and 2 wk after (B) GC therapy. For test reliability, the patients with low mRNA expression < 10 ng/μL (n = 7) were excluded from the Figure and the statistical analyses. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP = 0.050.