Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học General Psychiatry cung cấp cho các bạn kiến thức về ngành y đề tài: Glucocorticoids: do we know how they work? | Available online http content 4 3 146 Commentary Glucocorticoids do we know how they work Jeremy Saklatvala Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division Faculty of Medicine Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine London UK Correspondence Jeremy Saklatvala Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division Faculty of Medicine Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine London W6 8LH UK. Tel 44 0 20 8383 4444 fax 44 0 20 8563 0399 e-mail Received 24 October 2001 Revisions requested 8 November 2001 Revisions received 22 November 2001 Accepted 26 November 2001 Published 21 January 2002 Arthritis Res 2002 4 146-150 2002 BioMed Central Ltd Print ISSN 1465-9905 Online ISSN 1465-9913 Abstract It is not known to what extent glucocorticoid hormones cause their anti-inflammatory actions and their undesirable side effects by the same or different molecular mechanisms. Glucocorticoids combine with a cytoplasmic receptor that alters gene expression in two ways. One way is dependent on the receptor s binding directly to DNA and acting positively or negatively as a transcription factor. The other is dependent on its binding to and interfering with other transcription factors. Both mechanisms could underlie suppression of inflammation. The liganded receptor binds and inhibits the inflammatory transcription factors activator protein-1 and NF-kB. It also directly induces anti-inflammatory genes such as that encoding the protein inhibitor of NF-kB. Recent work has shown that glucocorticoids inhibit signalling in the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways that mediate the expression of inflammatory genes. This inhibition is dependent on de novo gene expression. It is important to establish the significance of these different mechanisms for the various physiological effects of glucocorticoids because it may be possible to produce steroid-related drugs that selectively target the inflammatory process. Keywords glucocorticoid .
