Relative potency of glucocorticoids assessed by in vitro anti-lymphocyte action: Studies in healthy subjects and patients with bronchial asthma.

Comparative efficacy of four glucocorticoids (GCs) was examined using lymphocyte-blasto-genesis assay procedure in 98 healthy subjects and 39 patients with chronic bronchial asthma. GCs examined were hydrocortisone, prednisolone, methylprednisolone, and dexamethasone.Concentrations of the GCs to suppress mitogenresponded incorporation of [3H] thymidine into peripheral-blood lymphocytes in vitro were determined individually, and mean or median IC50s were compared between healthy subjects and patients, or among the GCs. Individual IC50s varied among the subjects, especially in hydrocortisone and prednisolone.Effects of methylprednisolone and dexamethasone were significantly higher than those of hydrocortisone and prednisolone in both healthy subjects and patients (P<0.01) . When the median IC50s were compared among the GCs, the relative potencies of hydrocortisone, prednisolone, methylprednisolone, and dexamethasone against healthy lymphocytes come to 1.0, 0.8, 8.9, and 16.0, respectively, and those against asthmatic lymphocytes, 1.0, 1.5, 15.2, and 38.0, respectively. Similar results were obtained when the mean IC50s were compared.These data showed that methylprednisolone may have relatively potent immunosuppressive effect than we expected from the relative potencies based on anti-inflammatory effect in both healthy subjects and patients.