Steroid Hormones and the T-Cell Cytokine Profile

The fact that certain adrenal steroid hormones are immunosuppresive and anti-inflammatory has been known for many years. However, new information has led to the possibility of immunoregulatory steroids being used by physicians in novel ways. This book details these new therapies which could revolutionise the treatment of certain Th2-mediated diseases such as asthma. It provides an overview of these new concepts, starting with how the immune response triggers adrenal steroid production and finishing with in vivo models of infection and autoimmunity that demonstrate the clinical importance of these new insights into the physiological control of glucocorticoid function. The information contained is mostly very new, some of it previously unpublished, and will open up new horizons for immunologists, endocrinologists, physiologists, cell biologists and clinicians.
TOC: Mechanisms of action of cytokines on the central nervous system. Interaction with glucocorticoids.- Signals from the hypothalamus to the pituitary during chronic immune responses.- Role of the innervation of lymphoid tissue in the regulation of the Th1/Th2 dichotomy.- Modulation of glucocorticoid activity by metabolism of steroids in non-lymphoid organs.- Microenvironmental control of glucocorticoid functions in immune regulation.- Immunological consequences of inhibiting DHEA sulfatase in vivo Corticosterone and the HPA axis in autoimmune disease.- Glucocorticoid regulation of Nramp1 in host resistance to mycobacteria.- Human and murine tuberculosis as models for immuno-endocrine interactions.