EGF receptors (EGFRs) are increased in airway smooth muscle in asthma, which may contribute to both their hyperproliferation and hypercontractility. Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a candidate pathological agent in asthma and other airway diseases, and LPA upregulates EGFRs in human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells. We tested whether therapeutic glucocorticoids and/or beta(2)-adrenergic recepto...

A clear relationship between intrauterine development and later life predisposition to long-term disease is well established. Weight at birth provides a surrogate measure for fetal development and low birth weight predicts changes in most endocrine axes in adulthood. The exposure of the fetus to elevated levels of either endogenous or synthetic glucocorticoids, pre and periconceptional nutritio...

The human monocytic cell line U937 was used as a model system to investigate the effects of glucocorticoids on monocytic differentiation. Upon incubation with the phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) (5 x 10(-9) M) for 48 to 72 h, the immature U937 cells ceased to proliferate and became morphologically and functionally macrophage-like. Preincubation of the cells with glucoco...

In this paper, we summarize the data obtained in our laboratory showing the effects of glucocorticoids on human cognitive function in older adults, young adults and children. We first present data obtained in the aged human population which showed that long-term exposure to high endogenous levels of glucocorticoids is associated with both memory impairments and a 14% smaller volume of the hippo...

BACKGROUND Published reports examining the efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids for preserving renal function in immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) have yielded conflicting results. To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids agents for IgAN, we conducted a meta-analysis of the published randomized controlled trials (RCTs). METHODS MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Li...

Glucocorticoids have a major role in the therapy of inflammatory and immunologically mediated diseases. The precise mechanism of the suppressive and anti-inflammatory effects of these drugs is still unknown, but the functions of the mononuclear phagocyte system are generally believed to be sensitive to glucocorticoid action (1-3). During glucocorticoid administration in vivo, monocytopenia occu...

This chapter focuses primarily on the 30 years of often conflicting responses of intact fetuses to glucocorticoid exposure following Liggins' observation in 1969 that antenatal glucocorticoids induced early lung maturation in preterm sheep (1). Although the emphasis is on the surfactant system, other effects of glucocorticoid treatments on the fetal lung need to be discussed to dissociate them ...

This chapter focuses primarily on the 30 years of often conflicting responses of intact fetuses to glucocorticoid exposure following Liggins' observation in 1969 that antenatal glucocorticoids induced early lung maturation in preterm sheep (1). Although the emphasis is on the surfactant system, other effects of glucocorticoid treatments on the fetal lung need to be discussed to dissociate them ...

The discovery of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult humans presents a new therapeutic target for metabolic disease; however, little is known about the regulation of human BAT. Chronic glucocorticoid excess causes obesity in humans, and glucocorticoids suppress BAT activation in rodents. We tested whether glucocorticoids regulate BAT activity in humans. In vivo, the glucocorticoid prednisolone ...

Glucocorticoids modify osteoblastic cell differentiation, number, and function. Glucocorticoids stimulate osteoclastogenesis and increase the expression of receptor activator of Nuclear factor-kappaB ligand and colony-stimulating factor-1, and decrease the expression of osteoprotegerin. However, the most significant effect of glucocorticoids in bone is an inhibition of bone formation. This inhi...