Glucocorticoid receptor isoform expression does not predict steroid treatment response in IBD

Abstract
The response to steroids is mediated by the glucocorticoid receptor (hGR) of which two isoforms exist, hGRα and hGRβ. Both are products of alternative splicing of the primary transcript of GR messenger RNA (mRNA).2 The hGR isoforms differ in their carboxyl termini: whereas hGRα is ligand activated, modulating the expression of glucocorticoid responsive genes by binding to specific glucocorticoid response elements (GREs), hGRβ does not bind glucocorticoids and is transcriptionally inactive. Therefore it has been suggested that hGRβ might be an endogenous inhibitor of glucocorticoid action and a negative regulator determining glucocorticoid sensitivity in the target tissues.3