Corticosteroids for Dengue - Why Don't They Work?

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. Author Summary Dengue is an acute, mosquito-borne febrile illness and around 390 million cases occur annually in more than 100 countries. A host pro-inflammatory immune response is widely believed to contribute to the clinical complications that occur in some patients with dengue. Synthetic glucocorticoids, which are immunomodulatory agents commonly used in medicine, have been suggested as a therapy for dengue. We recently performed a randomized, controlled trial of early oral glucocorticoid therapy in 225 dengue cases in Vietnam, comparing a three day regimen of high (2 mg/kg) or low (0.5 mg/kg) dose prednisolone with placebo. Here, we report on immunological changes occurring during prednisolone therapy with a view to understanding the lack of clinical benefit by glucocorticoid therapy and to guide future intervention strategies for dengue. In whole-blood gene expression arrays we found 81 transcripts from 64 genes differentially abundant between high-dose prednisolone and placebo treated patients. Prominent were the genes associated with T and NK cell cytolytic functions. These results are a reminder that the mechanisms causally behind some of the complications of dengue (e.g. altered capillary permeability) are very poorly understood and represent a major knowledge gap in our understanding of disease pathogenesis that also undermines attempts to improve clinical management.