Why can cyclosporin be so much more powerful than steroids when treating an autoimmune problem ?
Answer:
I don't think it is correct to vote that cyclosporin is "stronger" than steroids. Steroids suppress the immune system in a massively general agency - they act on most type of immune cell. They can suppress organ rejection, help race with asthma, or cart down swelling after a spinal cord injury.
Cyclosporin works specifically to suppress the function T-cells, which are the cells "surrounded by charge" of activating the immune system against specific foreign invaders (ie virus, organ transplants.) T-cells can also make mistakes and set off the immune system against its own body - pyoderma gangreenosis.
Long-term steroids cause lots side effects like osteoporosis, bleeding, immensity gain, and cataracts. Cyclosporin have fewer side effects, but can weaken the kidneys. With either cyclosporin or steroids, you are more susceptible to infections (depending on the dose,) but because T-cells are within charge of activating specific types of immune responses, cyclosporin may make tracks you more open to trustworthy opportunistic infections.
cyclosporin is an immuno-suppressant; i.e. it directly inhibits the activity of the immune system. steroids, e.g. cortisone, inhibit inflammation, which can be indirectly cause by an immune response. therefore, cyclosporin is more forceful.
Cyclosporine is a medication designed to suppress the immune system. It has less important and less serious side effects when used for a few months contained by comparison to steroids It acts vigorously.