How the Glucocorticoids Suppress Immunity

摘要

If you are diagnosed with a disorder caused by an overactive immune system, such as an allergic skin reaction or a serious inflammatory disease like rheumatoid arthritis, chances are your physician will prescribe one of a class of steroid drugs calledglucocorti-coids. But ask how these drugs suppress immune reactions, and you are likely to get a shrug. Even though they have been mainstays of clinical immunology for decades, researchers have had few clues about how the glucocorticoids suppress immune and inflammatory reactionsuntil now, that is.