The potential of using hair cortisol to measure chronic stress in occupational healthcare: a scoping review

Objectives: Workplace-based selective prevention of mental health problems currently relies on subjective evaluation of stress complaints. Hair cortisol captures chronic stress responses and could be a promising biomarker for the early identification of mental health problems. The objective was to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art...

Differences between serum polar lipid profiles of male and female rheumatoid arthritis patients in response to glucocorticoid treatment

Objective As there are pharmacological differences between males and females, and glucocorticoid (GC) treatment is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality rate in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, it is important to study serum polar lipid profiles of male and female patients in response to GC therapy. Gender differences may require...

Glucocorticoid receptor haplotype is associated with a decreased risk of delirium in the elderly

Delirium is the most common mental disorder at older age in hospitals after acute admission. The pathogenesis of delirium is largely unknown. Hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal axis, leading to increased cortisol levels, has been suggested to play a role in the development of delirium. The effects of cortisol, the most important...

Preterm birth, early growth and adult metabolic health

Children born small-for-gestational-age (SGA) are at risk for short stature, and cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in later life. There is some preliminary evidence for a similar phenotype in survivors of preterm birth. In contrast to children born SGA, preterm infants born appropriate-for-gestational-age who experienced neonatal growth...

Confirmation of synthetic glucocorticoids with liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry: Organization and results of an international interlaboratory comparison test

Within the framework of a European Union (EU) research project entitled "Food Safety Screening: Synthetic Glucocorticoids (QLK1-1999-00122)," an international interlaboratory ring test was organized to compare and evaluate different liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) confirmatory methods that are applied in European monitoring...

Increased sensitivity to glucocorticoids in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of chronic fatigue syndrome patients, without evidence for altered density or affinity of glucocorticoid receptors

Background: In this study we tested the hypothesis that the increased sensitivity to glucocorticoids in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)-patients can be attributed to an altered functioning of their glucocorticoid receptors (GR). Methods: For this purpose, affinity and distribution of the GR were studied in purified, peripheral blood mononuclear...

Bone turnover, joint damage and bone mineral density in early rheumatoid arthritis treated with combination therapy including high-dose prednisolone

Objectives. Exploration of bone metabolism changes at different levels of disease activity, both with and without oral corticosteroid therapy, and prediction of changes in joint damage and bone density from the observed changes in markers of bone turnover. Methods. Data analysis from a randomized clinical trial with 155 rheumatoid arthritis (RA)...

LPS-induced IL-10 production in whole blood cultures from chronic fatigue syndrome patients is increased but supersensitive to inhibition by dexamethasone

Several causes have been held responsible for the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), including an altered hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal gland (HPA)-axis activity, viral infections and a reduced Th1 activity. Therefore, it was investigated whether the regulation of IL-10 is different in CFS. LPS-induced cytokine secretion in whole blood cultures...

Altered glucocorticoid regulation of the immune response in the chronic fatigue syndrome

It is increasingly recognized that glucocortiocoids (GCs) can have subtle modulatory effects in immunoregulation rather than having generalized immunosuppressive effects. GCs suppress Th1 cells and cellular immunity, but may favor Th2 responses and humoral immunity. The chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) appears to be associated with a disturbed HPA...

Modulation of the atopy patch test reaction by topical corticosteroids and tar

Background: Pharmacologic studies in atopic eczema (AE) are difficult to standardize. Patients with AE differ in the stage of their skin disease (acute, subacute, chronic). Objective: This study was designed to assess macroscopic and microscopic effects of pretreatment with topical glucocortico-steroids (GCSs) and tar on the atopy patch test ...

CD4 T lymphocytes from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome have decreased interferon-γ production and increased sensitivity to dexamethasone

A disturbed hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal gland axis and alterations at the immune system level have been observed in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Glucocorticoids are known to modulate T cell responses; therefore, purified CD4 T cells from CFS patients were studied to determine whether they have an altered sensitivity to...

Differential regulation of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and IL-12 by glucocorticoids in vitro

Antigen-presenting cells are thought to modulate the development of Th1 and Th2 cells by the secretion of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and IL-12. Because glucocorticoids (GC) favor the development of Th2 responses, we determined whether dexamethasone (DEX) and hydrocortisone (HC) have differential effects on lipopolysaccharide-induced IL-10 and IL-12...

Role of Th1 and Th2 cells in autoimmune demyelinating disease

Evidence is accumulating that Th1 cells play an important role in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), whereas Th2 cells contribute to recovery from disease. A maj or determinant in the development of Th1 and Th2 cells is the type of antigen-presenting cell (APC) involved and its...

Monoclonal antibodies against the human mannose receptor as a specific marker in flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry for macrophages

Recently we developed mouse monocloual antibodies (mAb) against the isolated human 175-kDa mannose receptor. In the present study we tested whether these mAb are suitable for the detection of the mannose receptor on cultured macrophages using flow cytometry and on cells in human tissues using immunohistochemistry. Human monocytes did not react...

Differences in dexamethasone-sensitivity between lymphocytes from patients with Alzheimer's disease and patients with multi-infarct dementia

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 40 consecutive patients entering a screening program on cognitive impairment were studied in vitro with respect to their sensitivity to dexamethasone (DEX). Phytohemagglutinin-induced proliferation by PBMC from patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) was less sensitive to the...

Differential sensitivity of human naive and memory CD4+ T cells for dexamethasone

Human CD45RA+ ('naive') and CD45RO+ ('memory') CD4+ T cells were compared with respect to their sensitivity to dexamethasone (DEX). In three different activation pathways, i.e. (i) immobilized anti-CD3, (ii) immobilized anti-CD3 plus soluble anti-CD28 and (iii) soluble anti-CD2 plus soluble anti-CD28, naive CD4+ T cells appeared more sensitive...

Abrogation of the suppressive effects of dexamethasone by PKC activation or CD28 triggering

The suppressive effect of the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEX) on purified CD4+ T cells was found to depend on the activation pathway. In contrast to anti-CD3- or PHA-induced T cell proliferation, the alternative pathway of T cell activation, i.e., through anti-CD2 and anti-CD28, appeared largely resistant to DEX. By titrating anti-CD28 or the...

Decreased sensitivity to dexamethasone in lymphocytes from patients with Alzheimer's disease

Cortisol levels in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are relatively unaffected by a challenge with dexamethasone (DEX) in vivo. The present study demonstrates that DEX is less inhibitory for phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-induced T cell proliferation in AD patients as compared to age-matched controls. Since no significant differences were found...