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Open Access 01-10-2018 | Original Article

Regulatory effects of dexamethasone on NK and T cell immunity

Authors: Liying Chen, Mikael Jondal, Konstantin Yakimchuk

Published in: Inflammopharmacology | Issue 5/2018

Abstract

Glucocorticoids (GCs) act via the intracellular glucocorticoid receptor (GR), which can regulate the expression of target genes. With regard to the immune system, GCs may affect both innate and adaptive immunity. Our study analyzed the immunoregulatory effects of dexamethasone (Dex) treatment on splenic T, Treg, NK and NKT cells by treating C57Bl6 mice with various doses of Dex. We observed that treatment with Dex decreased the number of NK cells in the spleen and suppressed their activity. In particular, the expression of both Ly49G and NKG2D receptors was decreased by Dex. However, Dex did not affect the population of NKT cells. With regard to splenic T cells, our results show a dose-dependent reduction in CD3⁺, CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD44⁺ and CD8⁺CD122⁺ T cells, but a stimulatory effect on CD4⁺CD25⁺ regulatory T cells by Dex treatment. In addition, treatment with Dex suppressed anti-tumor immune response in a mouse EG7 tumor model. We conclude that Dex may suppress both T- and NK-mediated immunity.

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Title: Regulatory effects of dexamethasone on NK and T cell immunity
Authors: Liying Chen
Mikael Jondal
Konstantin Yakimchuk
Publication date: 01-10-2018
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Published in: Inflammopharmacology / Issue 5/2018
Print ISSN: 0925-4692
Electronic ISSN: 1568-5608
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-017-0418-0

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Regulatory effects of dexamethasone on NK and T cell immunity

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