What is the effect of prolonged steroid therapy on eosinophils?
Eosinophil adherence is transiently reduced following corticosteroid administration, eosinophil chemotaxis is inhibited by administration of corticosteroids, and the chemotaxis inhibiting effect is nontoxic, cell-directed, dose-dependent and reversible. Inhibition of eosinophil adherence and chemotaxis may in part explain how corticosteroids produce eosinopenia and decrease the local accumulation of eosinophils.