Cortisol limits selected actions of synthetic glucocorticoids in the airway epithelium

Abstract

Cortisol, a physiologic glucocorticoid (GC), is essential for growth and differentiation of the airway epithelium. Epithelial function influences inflammation in chronic respiratory diseases. Synthetic GCs, including inhaled corticosteroids, exert anti-inflammatory effects in airway epithelium by transactivation of genes and by inhibition of proinflammatory cytokine release.We examined the effect of cortisol on the actions of syntheticGCs in the airway epithelium, demonstrating that cortisol acts like a partial agonist at the GC receptor (GR), limiting GCinducedGR- dependent transcription in the BEAS-2B human bronchial epithelial cell line. Cortisol also limited the inhibition of granulocyte..