Immune monitoring of glucocorticoid therapy

There is a clear medical need to improve the GC therapy because of the individually variable responsiveness to GC. Recently, several well-standardised cell-based assays focussing on monocyte functions (flowcytometric measurement of HLA-DR expression, semiautomatic measurement of ex vivo TNF release capacity) have been introduced into the clinical laboratory. These techniques allow for both the detection immunosuppression and the monitoring of therapeutic efficacy. The measurement of efficacy might be further improved by applying the novel technology of gene expression profiling that is ready for introducing into the diagnostics.