New means to monitor the effect of glucocorticoid therapy in children

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of 19 children with IBD treated with oral prednisolone

Patient No.	Age (yr)	Sex	Diagnosis	Disease extension at diagnosis	Disease duration at inclusion (yr)	Maintenance medication at inclusion
1	14	Male	UC	Left-sided	2.9	5-ASA
2	14	Female	UC	Pancolitis	0.2	5-ASA
3	5.6	Female	UC	Distal	0.8	No
4	18	Male	UC	Pancolitis	5.6	5-ASA
5	17	Male	UC	Pancolitis	2.2	5-ASA
6	15	Female	UC	Pancolitis	3	5-ASA
7	15	Male	UC	Pancolitis	0.8	5-ASA
8	14	Male	UC	Pancolitis	0.1	5-ASA
9	14	Male	UC	Pancolitis	0	5-ASA
10	13	Female	UC	Pancolitis	3.7	5-ASA, AZA
11	12	Male	UC	Pancolitis	0	5-ASA
12	12	Male	UC	Pancolitis	0	5-ASA
13	12	Female	UC	Pancolitis	1.3	5-ASA
14	9.4	Male	UC	Pancolitis	4.2	5-ASA
15	7.4	Male	UC	Pancolitis	1.8	5-ASA
16	7.2	Male	UC	Pancolitis	1.3	5-ASA
17	15	Male	CD	Pancolitis	0	5-ASA
18	12	Female	CD	Pancolitis	10	5-ASA
19	16	Male	IC	Pancolitis	1.2	5-ASA

IBD: Inflammatory bowel disease; 5-ASA: 5-aminosalicylic acid; AZA: Azathioprine; IC: Indeterminate colitis; UC: Ulcerative colitis.

Table 2 Concentration of IFNγ and IL-5 (pg/mL)

Patient No.	IFNγ A PHA	IFNγ B PHA	IL-5 A PHA	IL-5 B PHA
1	7200	19 000	11	28
2	99 000	8500	0.0	0.0
3	41 000	12 000	77	19
4	82 000	17 000	150	9.3
5	94 000	36 000	150	11
6	> 120 000	> 120 000	54	21
7	> 120 000	100 000	140	38
8	63 000	28 000	1.2	1.2
9	59 000	34 000	99	34
10	110 000	120 000	75	89
11	> 120 000	84 000	8.1	1.2
12	> 120 000	85 000	12	3.5
13	91 000	19 000	84	17
14	40 000	62 000	73	130
15	91 000	6600	10	7.2
16	> 120 000	> 120 000	15	2.3
17	90 000	63 000	69	33
18	> 120 000	97 000	33	0.0
19	68 000	120 000	89	160

Measured with ELISA in the supernatants of healthy donor PBMCs (target cells, stimulated with PHA) cultured with patient serum taken before (A) and 2 wk after oral GC therapy (B).