The biological rationale for why large doses of corticosteroids given repeatedly over several weeks may help individuals with lupus has been uncovered by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects more than 1 million people in the United States. Unlike the anabolic steroids abused by athletes for bulking up muscles, corticosteroids are routinely used to treat inflammation in lupus patients.

From News-Medical.Net:

In a study published in a recent issue of Nature, researchers at UT Southwestern and other institutions show in blood cells that giving very high doses of intravenous corticosteroids early and frequently in the course of the disease is more effective at killing the cells that drive lupus than giving the standard limited intravenous steroids followed by high doses of oral corticosteroids over a period of months. The cells used came from lupus patients as well as from animal models of lupus.

“By giving the very high dose early and frequently in the course of the disease, we could actually end up using much less steroids in the long run,” said Dr. Marilynn Punaro, professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and co-author of the study. “This finding suggests that by doing so, we might be able to get the disease under control more quickly and patients might experience fewer long-term side effects.”

Dr. Marilynn Punaro, professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and co-author of the study and director of the pediatric rheumatology division at UT Southwestern, said that steroids are probably always going to be a short-term fix because they work fast and powerfully.

Tags: anabolic steroids, corticosteroids, lupus, steroids

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