title: Early dexamethasone treatment exacerbates enterovirus 71 infection in mice.
abstract: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection can induce encephalitis. Overt immune responses is suspected to cause severe symptoms, so anti-inflammatory agents, corticosteroids have been recommended for treatment. However, one clinical study reported that treatment with glucocorticoids, dexamethasone (Dex) exacerbates disease severity. Here we investigated Dex treatment on EV71 infection using the murine model and found that both long-term (14-day) and short-term (4-day) Dex treatment starting from 1 or 3 days postinfection increased the mortality and disease severity of infected mice. Dex treatment starting from 4 or 8 days postinfection did not affect mouse mortality and disease severity. Early Dex treatment starting from 1 day postinfection caused atrophy and enhanced apoptosis in lymphoid organs to decrease the numbers of lymphocytes (CD4(+) T cells, CD8(+) T cells, and CD19(+) B cells) and to increase viral loads in infected tissues of mice. Our results demonstrate that Dex treatment has no beneficial effect on EV71 infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan 701, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fang-Hsiu
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan 701, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ting-Jing
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Statistical Analysis Laboratory, Department of International Business Management, Tainan University of Technology, Tainan, Taiwan 710, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tung-Miao
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Tainan, Taiwan 701, Republic of China. Electronic address: suihjen@nhri.org.tw.
authors.forename: Ih-Jen
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan 701, Republic of China; Center of Infectious Disease and Signaling Research, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan 701, Republic of China. Electronic address: shunhua@mail.ncku.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Shun-Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D029821:Enterovirus A, Human / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004769:Enterovirus Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D003907:Dexamethasone
keywords: Anti-inflammatory; Dexamethasone; EV71; Lymphocyte; Mice