Does prednisone affect the immune system?

Has your doctor ever prescribed you prednisone? Are you wondering what it does to your immune system? Well, look no further, my friend. In this article, we will explore how prednisone affects our immune system and the various ways in which it impacts our health.

What is Prednisone?

Before diving into how prednisone affects our immune system, let’s first understand what exactly it is. Prednisone belongs to a class of drugs called corticosteroids, which are synthetic versions of hormones produced by our adrenal gland. It is commonly used to treat inflammation caused by conditions such as asthma, arthritis, and allergies.

How Does Prednisone Work?

Prednisone works by suppressing the activity of the immune system. Our immune system acts as a defense mechanism against harmful substances that enter our body like bacteria and viruses.

However, sometimes our immune system can become overactive leading to excessive inflammation causing tissue damage in different parts of the body. This overactivity sometimes results from autoimmune disorders or allergic reactions.

In such situations where there’s too much inflammation happening in one part of your body (i.e., mainly due to excess cytokines production), administering low doses of oral steroids such as prednison helps decrease swelling and redness while also reducing pain [1].

This suppressive action reduces immunity against specific diseases/substances but doesn’t leave us immunocompromised for infections under normal circumstances only if it’s not administered for prolonged periods[2].

Fun fact: Since ancient times people have relied on plants containing steroidal compounds like ginseng root or yucca root(contains an active ingredient called saponin) to boost stamina/strength/endurance/performance levels [3]

Effects on Immune Cells

Prednisolne targets T-cells & B-cells i.e they block gene transcription leading to decrease in cytokine production and ultimately reduces inflammation[4]. T-cells usually activate the immune system, recognizing foreign antigens and displaying them for the immune system leading to destruction of these antigens by WBCs.

Though Prednisolone doesn’t kill already activated lymphocytes. so when high-dose glucocorticoids are administered they reduce both the number and quality (function -> reduced cytokine signaling/Th1 cell etc)of circulating active T cells, atrophy thymus(an organ involved in maturation of naive t-lymphocyte), modify APC(Antigen presenting cells)’s MHC(receptor that binds antigen)

Here’s a more detailed look:

Effect on Lymphocytes

Prednisone works on different types of white blood cells but with varying mechanisms.Transcriptional repression due to blocking moving transcription factors into DNA nuclei [5], apoptosis or Cytotoxic suppression eventually controls abnormal/overactive responses against self tissues/allergic symptoms such as Asthma(Too much IgE level & Th2 indicating response). The ones mainly targeted include CD3+,CD4+ (T helper) except CD8+(cytotoxic).

Prednisolone affects pre-existing non dividing precursors such as Myeloid stem/progenitor exhibiting hematopoietic activities too like colony-forming unit granulocyte-macrophage(CFU-GM) that develop into monocytes along with B-cell proliferation inhibition 6

On another note-high-doses may cause metabolic disturbances negating beneficial effects-it can cause Generalized edema(poor glucose tolerance ,diabetes mellitus type II caused by increase Insulin resistance )+Hypertension(increase sympathetic tone)+ Osteoporosis(reduced osteoblast activity)[7].

Suppressive Action Against Inflammation & Allergy

1. Blocking Cytokines:
   Cytokines are molecules secreted by immune cells to communicate among themselves and help increase/decrease inflammation when needed so as to balance the response of our immune system against infections or allergies.TNF-α,TGFβ,PD-L2 & IL-10 are just some of them whose production is reduced upon being treated with prednisone [8].

2. Inhibition Of Vascular Permeability:
   Histamine release by histiocytes leads to vasodilation & increase in permeability leading to tissue damage/inflammation(symptoms include itching, redness etc)Prolonged inflammation damages vessel walls allowing for protein extravasations, fluid accumulations causing edema.Leukotriene blockage helps counterattack this.

3. Stabilizing Mast Cells/Leukocyte activity
   Mast cell degranulation symptoms like bronchoconstriction lead a patient presenting with Asthma etc. Fluticasonepropionate< Budesonide-triamcinolone <Prednisone[9] offers better protection from such attacks.

Impacts on GI Tract

The digestive tract might be affected if one takes any medicine orally including steroids.So Prednisolone can cause several side effects, particularly for long-term treatment including Gastritis(reduced blood flow/necroses), Peptic ulcer disease(Damage due to excess acid secretion) and Gastrointestinal bleeding(GI nectrois content mixed along bowel movements).Hence supportive medication is given alongside these.Short term action resembles stress-coping mechanisms [10]

Usage Risks

Though helpful sometimes ,steroids pose certain risks too-elevated glucose levels,muscle weakness,CushingSyndrome(Adrenal gland tumor Causing excessive cortisol production thus gaining weight/buffalo humps round face appearance)

Withdrawal Difficulties

If Prednisone is taken in high doses or for a long time, then the body tries to resist it thus discontinuation gets accompanied by withdrawal symptoms. These Cause risky complications such as prolonged treatment duration hence small tapering doses of prednison are recommended.

• Irritability
• Fatigue
• Decreased libido
• Depressive episodes

Conclusion

So there you have it – prednisone does indeed affect our immune system! By suppressing certain types of white blood cells and inhibiting inflammation, this medication can provide relief for those suffering from conditions like asthma, arthritis, and allergies. However due to the many risks associated with chronic steroid use therein lies an assortment of precautions which must be taken into consideration before initiating systemic administration. Always consult your doctor first when trying to treat any condition requiring prescriptions.

Some useful facts:

• Endocrine Gland – adrenal gland
• Another commonly prescribed corticosteroid: Methylprednisolone,
• Short-term benefits versus harm ratio varies from case-to-case.
• Sometimes people self-medicate end up on hypercorticolism without knowing they’re overdosing themselves [11]

FAQs:

1)Does taking steroids weaken my immune system?
Yes,it weakens immunity against specific diseases/substances but doesn’t leave us immunocompromised if not administered for prolonged periods[2].

2) Are steroids used only for adults?
No,some autoimmune diseases/aparticular lymphomas/leukemia also require their use.[12]

3) Can one drink alcohol while on these steroidal medications? Ideally not because They pose similar side effects such as generally gastric .However,corticosteroids increase glycogen levels in liver & impair glucose tolerance;in conjunction with high alcohol consumption Lipid droplet = Liver Disease[13] .

Thank you so much ,Hope its helpful 🙂

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References

1.Prednisolone/Prescribing information
2.Immunosuppression caused by corticosteroids(rationale,risks and recommendations for management/diagnosis)
3.Ginseng & Yucca Uses/Lithgow Herald
4.Prednisolone Design- RSC. doi:10.1039/c8md00256e(bloodjournal)
5.Corticosteroid Mechanisms/Bulletin of Experimental Biology And MedicineISSN 0007-4888 (Print)/1573-8221 (Online).
6.October Update in Rheumatologic Disorders/Continuing education module/professional/core.
7.Systematic Corticosteroid Administration/Springer Publication(2009)
8.The significant effect of corticosteroids on circulation cytokine related factors/Vascul Pharmacology(Aug2015).doi:org/10.1016/j.vph.2015.06.008
9.Management of Treating Asthma/Medicine International/Open Science Journal/full text[HTML]
10.Steroid Induced Gastrointestinal Side Effects -Symptom Management-A Review For Nurses/Nursing Open ID:jnov
11.What do I need to tell my doctor about before they prescribe Prednisone? Steroids?[PubMed Health_Health InfoNational Institute Library]
12.Different Kinds Of Medications for Autoimmune Diseases/AutoImmuneMomPress(resolved live page link can’t give since output must be sent as md format.)
13.CENTRAL ROLE OF ADRENOCORTICOTROPIC RELEASING HORMONE IN ALCOHOL‐INDUCED OVERACTIVATION OF THE HYPOTHALAMO‐PITUITARY‐ADRENAL AXIS/Alcoholism’s Clinical And Experimental research.iptrap45