Nguyen THT, Nguyen THQ, Vu TT, Farrar J, Hoang TL, et al. (2013) Corticosteroids for Dengue – Why Don't They Work? PLoS Negl Trop Dis 7(12): e2592. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0002592
Abstract:
Background: Dysregulated immune responses may contribute to the clinical complications that occur in some patients with dengue.
Findings: In Vietnamese pediatric dengue cases randomized to early prednisolone therapy, 81 gene-transcripts (0.2% of the 47,231 evaluated) were differentially abundant in whole-blood between high-dose (2 mg/kg) prednisolone and placebo-treated patients two days after commencing therapy. Prominent among the 81 transcripts were those associated with T and NK cell cytolytic functions. Additionally, prednisolone therapy was not associated with changes in plasma cytokine levels.
Conclusion: The inability of prednisolone treatment to markedly attenuate the host immune response is instructive for planning future therapeutic strategies for dengue.