Assessment of Glucocorticoids ‒ Induced Preclinical Atherosclerosis

In 1948, the US rheumatologist Philip Hench and his associates at the Mayo Clinic first administered hydrocortisone to a patient with rheumatoid arthritis and discovered its clinical benefits [1]. Two years later, Hench, together with biochemists Edward Kendall and Tadeus Reichstein, shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Today, glucocorticoids are among the most frequently prescribed class of anti-inflammatory medications [2]. They are part of the standard treatment for a wide range of disorders which feature inflammation and/or immune activation, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypersensitivity reactions, autoimmune diseases, and in organ transplantation. However, even early on, the euphoria generated by the discovery of corticosteroids was rapidly tempered by the realization that clinicians were, in a sense, engaging in a Faustian pact between its impressive anti-inflammatory benefits and its potentially devastating Cushingoid side effects [3, 4].