Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
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Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz · Jul 2009
ReviewRevisiting steroid treatment for septic shock: molecular actions and clinical effects--a review.
Corticosteroids are widely used to treat a diversity of pathological conditions including allergic, autoimmune and some infectious diseases. These drugs have complex mechanisms of action involving both genomic and non-genomic mechanisms and interfere with different signal transduction pathways in the cell. ⋯ Here, we review the basic molecular mechanisms important for corticosteroid action as well as current evidence for their use, or not, in septic patients. We also present an analysis of the reasons why this is still such a controversial point in the literature.